Race Report: 2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

Session Notes:

• The 2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was 85 laps on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary Long Beach street circuit totaling 167.28 miles.
• The pit road speed limit was 50 mph and the race started the third time past the start-line flag stand with pole sitter Josef Newgarden gridded on drivers' left.
• All drivers but Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Scott McLaughlin, Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato, Graham Rahal, Charlie Kimball, Sebastien Bourdais, Max Chilton, Rinus VeeKay, Jack Harvey, Dalton Kellett and Oliver Askew started the race on alternate red-sidewalled tires.
• Just before the green flag, the ambient temperature was 67 degrees with cloudy skies. The track temperature was 81 degrees according to Firestone engineers.
• The race was slowed by four cautions:
  • At the conclusion of Lap 1, Pato O'Ward and Ed Jones came together in Turn 11 in an incident that also involved Sebastien Bourdais. O'Ward's No. 5 Chevrolet was left spun out, bringing out the first full-course caution on Lap 2. Jones received a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact from INDYCAR Race Control.
  • On Lap 19, damage initially sustained during the Lap 1 incident led to O'Ward's No. 5 Chevrolet slowing on the front stretch and coming to rest at pit exit, bringing out the second full-course caution. The incident ended O'Ward's bid for his first NTT IndyCar Series championship.
  • On Lap 26, the third full-course caution flag flew for Marcus Ericsson who made contact with the Turn 1 tire barrier after battling with Alexander Rossi.
  • Oliver Askew and Conor Daly came together in Turn 9 on Lap 62, leading to the No. 45 Honda of Askew finding the tire barrier and the No. 20 Chevrolet of Daly going off course. The resulting full-course caution was three laps in duration.
• Colton Herta, who topped both practice sessions but faltered in qualifying and started from the 14th position, went on to lead 43 laps en route to his third victory of 2021 and the sixth win of his IndyCar career.
• Alex Palou finished fourth, earning 32 points toward his first series championship. Palou became the first IndyCar champion from Spain, the first from a predominantly Spanish-speaking country since Juan Pablo Montoya in 1999, and the first under 25-year-old since Scott Dixon in 2003.
• Chip Ganassi Racing won its 14th Indy car championship as a team, with Palou joining Jimmy Vasser, Juan Pablo Montoya, Alex Zanardi, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti as Ganassi champions.
• Next up for IndyCar is the 2022 season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg on Feb. 27.
  

Session Notes:

• The 30-minute warm-up session was free of major incidents and ran for its entire duration without a red flag.
• Contact between Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi led to damage to the No. 06 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of Castroneves, who sat out the remainder of the session. In interviews, both drivers placed responsibility for the incident on the other driver. INDYCAR reviewed the contact and no action was taken by Race Control.
• At the conclusion of the session, Colton Herta's 1:08.4762 was fastest.
  

Session Notes:

• Qualifying for the 2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach consisted of three segments. In Round 1, each group of 14 cars received 10 minutes of track time. The fastest six from each group advanced to Round 2, while the remaining cars were assigned to positions 13–28 with Group 1 cars in the odd-numbered positions and Group 2 cars in the even-numbered positions. The 12 cars that advanced to Round 2 also received 10 minutes of track time with the fastest six advancing to the Firestone Fast Six and the remaining cars ranked seven through 12 based on their fastest laps. During the Firestone Fast Six, the six cars received six minutes of guaranteed of green-flag time. At the end of the session, the cars were ranked one through six based on their fastest laps.
• Any driver who caused a red flag during any segment lost his two quickest laps and was not able to advance to the next round of qualifying.
• Group 1 qualifying results were delayed due to two separate incidents: Pato O'Ward and Marcus Ericsson in Turn 10 and Jack Harvey and Will Power in Turn 8. The Turn 10 incident did not result in any action taken by Race Control, but the other incident prompted the stewards to penalize Harvey his two fastest laps and ability to advance for causing a red-flag condition after the checkered flag that impeded Power's final lap.
• Group 2 was similarly contentious with delayed results, but the only penalty issued was to Oliver Askew for qualifying interference although it did not affect those who advanced to Round 2.
• Round 2 also had delayed results due to a late off by Power that brought out a local yellow that impeded other competitors. Power was penalized his fastest lap and the final lap turned by Ed Jones was invalidated because he failed to slow for a local yellow.
• Unlike the previous rounds, the Firestone Fast Six was without issue. Josef Newgarden secured the NTT P1 Award with a 1:08.2241 and earned a bonus point as he chases Alex Palou and Pato O'Ward for the 2021 championship.
• O'Ward qualified eighth and Palou qualified 10th, placing all three drivers mathematically eligible to win the championship within the top 10 starting positions.
  

Session Notes:

• Like the weekend's first session, Practice 2 for the 2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was 45 minutes in duration.
• Less eventful than Practice 1, Saturday's practice ran free of red flags for the vast majority of the session until the 44-minute mark, when two separate incidents led to simultaneous red and checkered flags:
  • The No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet of Rinus VeeKay stopped on the Turn 1 runoff.
  • The No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Scott Dixon made contact with the Turn 9 tire barrier.
• Colton Herta backed up his Practice 1 speed with the fastest Practice 2 lap: 1:07.9783.
• The three championship contenders were ranked fourth (Josef Newgarden), eighth (Pato O'Ward) and 16th (Alex Palou).
  

Session Notes:

• The first practice of the 2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend was 45 minutes in duration.
• The session was plagued by multiple red flags and incidents that brought out local yellows.
• Seventeen minutes after the start of practice, Josef Newgarden spun and stopped in Turn 9, bringing out a one-minute red flag and earning the driver a five-minute time penalty.
• At the 24-minute mark, Oliver Askew stopped off course in Turn 8 with damage to the right rear of his race car after making contact on course. The incident led to a three-minute red flag and earned Askew a five-minute time penalty.
• Eight minutes before the scheduled checkered flag, Scott Dixon made contact with the tire barrier in Turn 1. Dixon was able to back out and continue, but the incident caused a two-minute red flag.
• At the checkered flag, Colton Herta's 1:09.3479 was the fastest lap of the session.