Over the course of his IndyCar career, Alexander Rossi has simply been lights-out after starting from the pole position, just like he was this past Sunday.
It is no secret that starting from the pole position, especially in road or street course races, provides a huge advantage to drivers in IndyCar races, or really in races in any motorsports series. But over the course of his IndyCar career, Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi has taken that advantage to a whole new level.
The 27-year-old Nevada City, California native has been lights-out from the pole position; there is simply no other way to put it, and he proved that once again with arguably the best performance of his career in this past Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on the streets of Long Beach, California.
Rossi took the first pole position of his career for the race at Watkins Glen International in the 2017 season. He went on to lead 32 of the 60 laps around the 11-turn, 3.40-mile (5.472-kilometer) natural terrain road course in Watkins Glen, New York en route to winning the race. He won this race by 0.951 seconds over Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon in second place.
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He took the second pole position of his career for the race on the streets of Long Beach, California last season, and he went on to lead 71 of the race’s 85 laps around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile (3.167-kilometer) temporary street circuit en route to earning the victory. He only relinquished his lead during his pit stops, and he won the race by 1.241 seconds over Team Penske’s Will Power in second place.
In rare fashion, Rossi failed to win the race for which he took the third pole position of his career. He took the pole position for the second race on the streets of Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan last season, and he led 46 of the first 63 laps of the 70-lap race around the 14-turn, 2.35-mile (3.782-kilometer) temporary street circuit.
However, in an attempt to fend off teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay with under seven laps remaining, Rossi locked up his brakes and ended up causing one of his tires to go flat. He was relegated to a 12th place finish after making an unscheduled pit stop to change tires because of this incident.
In typical fashion, Rossi dominated the race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course later that season after starting from the pole position. He led 66 of the race’s 90 laps around the 13-turn, 2.258-mile (3.634-kilometer) natural terrain road course in Lexington, Ohio. Once again, he only relinquished his lead during his pit stops. He won this race by 12.829 seconds over Schmidt Peterson Motorsports rookie Robert Wickens in second place.
Most recently, Rossi took the pole position for this past Sunday’s race on the streets of Long Beach, California, and once again, he only relinquished the lead during his pit stops.
He led 80 of the race’s 85 laps, and he won it by 20.356 seconds over Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in second place, giving him the largest margin of victory in an IndyCar race since Dixon won the race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the 2009 season by a whopping 29.780 seconds over Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe in second.
In the five IndyCar races from which he has started the pole position, Alexander Rossi has been victorious four times and led 295 of the 390 laps that have been contested. Four of his six career IndyCar victories have come after he has started from the pole position. There are no two ways about it; he is lights-out when starting from the pole position.