Scott Dixon Leads Honda 1-2-3 Podium Sweep At the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
Streets of Long Beach
・Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon takes victory at Long Beach
・Colton Herta, Alex Palou round out all-Honda podium in front of Honda's home crowd
・Honda powers four of top five finishers at the beach
It was an incredible win at Honda's home race for Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, as the six-time series champion powered his #9 Honda Indy car to victory today in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Dixon needed to save fuel through the latter half of the race as Josef Newgarden, Colton Herta and Alex Palou chased him down. After defending from Newgarden for several laps, the Penske driver was removed from podium contention as some mild contact from the rear from Herta in the hairpin. That light contact put Newgarden's car into "anti-stall" mode, allowing Herta and Palou to get by.
From there, Dixon needed to continue to save fuel to the finish, crossing the line less than a second ahead of Andretti Global's Herta. Dixon's Chip Ganassi teammate and defending NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou finished third, making it an all-Honda podium affair
Other Honda drivers in the top 10 include Marcus Ericsson (P5), 2023 Long Beach Grand Prix winner Kyle Kirkwood (P7), and polesitter Felix Rosenqvist (P9).
Fast Facts
Today's 1-2-3 podium sweep for Honda is the company's 17th win at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in 24 appearances here. This includes victories in 10 of the last 15 races; and a seven-year victory streak in Championship Auto Racing Teams competition, against multi-manufacturer competition, from 1996-2002.
This is Honda's 281st championship series win in Indy car from 511 races since the manufacturer entered Indy car competition in 1994; and 181st win against multi-manufacturer competition.
The racing arm of American Honda, Honda Performance Development, was renamed Honda Racing Corporation USA (HRC US) in January to reflect the new role of the company in Honda's global racing efforts. With this change, HRC US will take on an increased role in Honda's global motorsports activities.
Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES now heads east for next weekend's Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, April 26-28 at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama.
We went into the race thinking there would be more cautions, but those didn't come. So I didn't really follow the fuel number that we needed during the first part of the race, and that almost caught up with us later. But it's a credit to the team that they were able to react and adjust. This is an Acura/Honda home race, with all their associates here, so huge thank you to everyone at HRC and Honda. Obviously, that mega fuel mileage from Honda is what got us to victory, so that was huge. I love winning here. This is big.
We went into the race thinking there would be more cautions, but those didn't come. So I didn't really follow the fuel number that we needed during the first part of the race, and that almost caught up with us later. But it's a credit to the team that they were able to react and adjust. This is an Acura/Honda home race, with all their associates here, so huge thank you to everyone at HRC and Honda. Obviously, that mega fuel mileage from Honda is what got us to victory, so that was huge. I love winning here. This is big.
So we knew Scott was having to save fuel, and that allowed us to close up to him. But I think I used up my tires doing so, because I really didn't have anything for in in those final laps. So congrats to Scott, but our Gainbridge Honda was on rails today. It's always so cool to be here at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach; and to have Honda finish 1-2-3 is even better. [on the late race contact with Josef Newgarden] I just misjudged it. I carried too much speed into the hairpin and got into the back of him. Which wasn't terrible, but I think he got anti-stall from his rear tires lifting. That really killed his run. I feel bad for him, I have a lot of respect for Josef and don't want to race him that way. But that's just how it happened today. I'll definitely keep it in the back of my mind for the future.
So we knew Scott was having to save fuel, and that allowed us to close up to him. But I think I used up my tires doing so, because I really didn't have anything for in in those final laps. So congrats to Scott, but our Gainbridge Honda was on rails today. It's always so cool to be here at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach; and to have Honda finish 1-2-3 is even better. [on the late race contact with Josef Newgarden] I just misjudged it. I carried too much speed into the hairpin and got into the back of him. Which wasn't terrible, but I think he got anti-stall from his rear tires lifting. That really killed his run. I feel bad for him, I have a lot of respect for Josef and don't want to race him that way. But that's just how it happened today. I'll definitely keep it in the back of my mind for the future.
It was a tough race. I think Josef, Colton and I were all very close. But Scott was on a different strategy, and I think only he could made it work like that. I've very happy with a podium finish. Maybe we could've done a little bit better without the lapped traffic, but honestly, I'm happy to get that first podium with DHL and proud that a Ganassi car won today.
It was a tough race. I think Josef, Colton and I were all very close. But Scott was on a different strategy, and I think only he could made it work like that. I've very happy with a podium finish. Maybe we could've done a little bit better without the lapped traffic, but honestly, I'm happy to get that first podium with DHL and proud that a Ganassi car won today.
