2022 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

Race Notes:

• The 2022 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was 85 laps on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile Long Beach temporary street circuit.
• The pit road speed was 50 mph and the pit window was 26–29 laps under green-flag conditions assuming a two-stop strategy.
• The race started the third time past the flag stand with pole sitter Colton Herta gridded on drivers' left.
• Just before the green flag, the ambient temperature was 66 degrees under mostly cloudy skies. The track temperature was 108 degrees according to Firestone Racing engineers.
• The command to start engines was given at 12:38 p.m. PDT by Steve Goodling, president of the Long Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau.
• Herta led the field to the green flag and went on to lead 28 of the race's 85 laps.
• Cautions and pit stop strategy altered the top five throughout the race, which had four full-course yellow flags for on-track incidents:
  • Laps 6–8: The No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet of Dalton Kellett made contact with the tire barrier in Turn 1 and then made secondary contact with the wall. Kellett was able to exit his race car without assistance from the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team. Leaders under this first caution were Herta, Josef Newgarden, Alex Palou, Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi.
  • Laps 60–65: The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of Simon Pagenaud ended up turned around and in the flower bed surrounding the fountain after a multi-car stack up in Turn 3. Leaders under the second caution period were Newgarden, Palou, Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean and Will Power.
  • Laps 76–79: A spin for the No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Jimmie Johnson led to contact with with the Turn 8 tire barrier. The incident collected the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda of David Malukas, which also ended up in the tire barrier. Leaders under the third caution were Newgarden, Grosjean, Palou, Power and Pato O’Ward.
  • Lap 85: Takuma Sato had contact in Turn 8 on Lap 83 which stranded him on course leading to the race finishing under caution.
• In addition to the full-course cautions, there were two local yellows that had a significant impact on the race’s outcome:
  • On Lap 56, Herta’s No. 26 Andretti Autosport made contact with the wall in Turn 9. The damage eliminated him from the race, however he was able to maneuver the car into the alternate pit entrance thus eliminating the need for a full-course caution.
  • On Lap 67, the No.8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Ericsson made contact with the barrier in Turn 4. The disabled race car collected the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Scott Dixon, which spun Ericsson’s car off course.
• Prior to the race-ending caution, Newgarden took the white flag with a 0.7819-second advantage over second-place Grosjean.
• Newgarden crossed the finish line under caution, earning the driver his 22nd career NTT IndyCar Series victory and his second consecutive win of 2022. It marked his first victory at the Long Beach street circuit.
• Points after the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach:
  1. Newgarden 118
  2. McLaughlin 113
  3. Palou 103
  4. Power 102
  5. Dixon 83
  6. Grosjean 75
  7. VeeKay 67
  8. Ericsson 66
  9. O’Ward 63
  10. Rahal 60
      

Session Notes:

• The 30-minute warm-up session for the 2022 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach began on time at 9 a.m. PDT.
• During warm-up, the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet of Scott McLaughlin was brought behind the wall with an engine issue.
• One red flag was displayed at the 21-minute mark when Graham Rahal spun his No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda in Turn 4 and made light contact with the wall. Having stalled his race car, Rahal required a restart by the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team which allowed the car to return to pit lane under its own power with damage.
• At the conclusion of the session, pole sitter Colton Herta's 1:05.8645 was the fastest lap.
  

Session Notes:

• Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award consists of three segments. In Round 1, cars are split into two groups of 13 based on combined practice times and each group receives 10 minutes of track time. The fastest six cars from each group advance to Round 2 while the remaining cars are assigned starting positions 13 through 26 with the odd-numbered starting positions coming from Group 1 and the even-numbered starting positions from Group 2. Round 2 also consists of 10 minutes of track time with the fastest six drivers advancing to the Firestone Fast Six while the seventh through 12th fastest are assigned the corresponding starting positions. During the Firestone Fast Six, the six cars receive six minutes of guaranteed green-flag time and the cars are ranked one through six based on their fastest laps.
• At the start of qualifying for the 2022 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the ambient temperature at the Long Beach street circuit was 68 degrees and the track temperature was 111 degrees according to Firestone engineers.
• Prior to the session, the standing qualifying record at Long Beach was a 1:06.2243 set by Helio Castroneves in 2017.
• Rounds 1 and 2 proceeded without major incidents. In both rounds, Colton Herta established new track records: 1:05.7283 in Round 1 Group 1 and 1:05.4057 in Round 2.
• In the Firestone Fast Six, Romain Grosjean caused a red flag with two seconds remaining on the clock. Grosjean was penalized his two fastest laps and the ability to continue, while the five remaining drivers were given the opportunity for one additional timed lap. Only Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi elected to participate.
• At the conclusion of Round 3, Herta's 1:05.3095 earned him his eighth career NTT IndyCar Series pole and established another new track record at Long Beach. The driver's last pole was in September 2021 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
  

Session Notes:

• Practice 2 was 45 minutes in duration with a 60-minute time window, allowing the clock to stop for red flags.
• The session started on time at 8:45 a.m. PDT and was stopped by three red flags.
  • At 9:18 a.m., Jimmie Johnson — who fractured his right hand in a Practice 1 crash — made contact with the Turn 1 tire barrier. Johnson was later checked and released by the infield care center and was cleared to drive by INDYCAR. The first red flag lasted seven minutes.
  • Three minutes after the resumption of green-flag practice at 9:25 a.m., the clock stopped again for a red flag caused by David Malukas, whose No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda made contact with the Turn 3 tire barrier. Coming through the turn behind Malukas was the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda of Jack Harvey, which stopped just short of the tire barrier to avoid hitting the stalled race car of Malukas.
  • At 9:31 a.m., the session went green but was red three minutes later when Graham Rahal's No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda also made contact with the Turn 3 tire barrier in an incident very similar to Malukas' earlier contact.
• Romain Grosjean ended the session with the fastest lap, a 1:05.6520. The top nine drivers were all under the established qualifying track record, a 1:06.2254 set by Helio Castroneves of Team Penske on April 8, 2017.
  

Session Notes:

• The start of the session, scheduled to begin at 3:15 p.m. PDT, was delayed due to course clean-up following the previous session.
• At the scheduled start time, the ambient temperature was 95 degrees and the track temperature was 132 degrees according to Firestone engineers.
• At 3:30 p.m., the session went green and was scheduled to run a full 45 minutes.
• The first of two red flags was displayed when the No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Jimmie Johnson made contact with the tire barrier in Turn 5. At the same time, teammate Scott Dixon's No. 9 Honda was stalled in a run-off area. Both drivers were assessed five-minute time penalties for causing a red flag during practice.
• The second red flag, which occurred at 4:06 p.m., was for Dalton Kellett who spun the No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet in Turn 5 and made light contact with the tire barrier. Kellett was penalized five minutes for causing a red flag during practice.
• At the conclusion of practice at 4:22 p.m., Simon Pagenaud's 1:07.1991 was the fastest of the session and was four-tenths of a second clear of second-fastest Alexander Rossi. The top 13 through Graham Rahal were separated by less than a second.