The Long Beach qualifying session has set the starting grid for the second race of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series. Who will roll off in what position tomorrow?
Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves is off to a great start in the 2017 IndyCar season after a 6th place finish at the season opener in St. Petersburg. He has now taken his third consecutive pole at Long Beach and fourth at the track in his career. He set the pace in qualifying with a fastest lap time of 66.2254 seconds (106.980 miles per hour) in his Chevrolet car, a new track record.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon will start alongside Castroneves in the first row. Dixon was the fastest driver in the first and third practice sessions and is the fastest driver of a Honda-powered car. Team Penske’s Will Power will roll off 9th after being the quickest driver in the second practice session. The 2010 Long Beach race winner, Ryan Hunter-Reay, who drives for Andretti Autosport in a Honda, will start in 3rd place alongside Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe in 4th in his Honda. Sebastien Bourdais, who won the season opener at St. Petersburg, will roll off in 12th.
Honda Cars Dominant Despite No Pole (Again)
Despite not taking the pole, Honda cars will start in six of the top seven positions. This is much like last race at St. Petersburg, when a Chevrolet driver (Power) took the pole, but other Chevrolet drivers only collected two of the other 11 spots inside the top 12. Honda drivers have just three poles since the Houston doubleheader in 2014, all of which coming on superspeedways last season.
Pagenaud Penalized
While all was great for Castroneves and somewhat decent for Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden (8th) and Power (9th), that was not the case for Roger Penske’s other driver, Simon Pagenaud. Pagenaud, the 2016 series champion and defending Long Beach winner, will roll off in last place (21st) after he was penalized in the first round of qualifying.
Pagenaud did, however, have the fastest time out of any driver before the penalty. Definitely keep your eye on him in tomorrow’s 85-lap race. Keep in mind that Sebastien Bourdais went from last to first at St. Petersburg to claim the season-opening victory, so anything is possible.
Eyes On the Rookie
The series lone rookie Ed Jones will roll off in a career-high 13th place in his second career series start driving for Dale Coyne Racing in a Honda-powered car. IndyCar.com has full qualifying results and a starting grid.
Tomorrow’s Schedule
Warm-up for the race begins at 12:00 PM ET on Sunday, and the race itself starts at 4:30 PM ET on Sunday. The race will air live on NBCSN starting at 4:00 PM ET.
Must Read: Long Beach Race Rewind
Be sure to check back with Beyond the Flag (BTF) following future practice and qualifying sessions as well as races. Also, don’t forget to follow along with BTF for all of your IndyCar needs this season.