Dixon ekes out fuel to land dramatic Long Beach GP victory

Scott Dixon delivered one of his fuel-saving masterclasses to triumph in the 49th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, his second around the 1.968-mile street course, and the 57th of his career. Despite running an alternate strategy and making his last …

Scott Dixon delivered one of his fuel-saving masterclasses to triumph in the 49th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, his second around the 1.968-mile street course, and the 57th of his career. Despite running an alternate strategy and making his last stop 10 laps before Colton Herta and Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing’s six-time champion was able to stave off his attackers – first Josef Newgarden of Team Penske, then Herta’s fellow Honda-powered Andretti Global entry – and clinched a brilliant win.

Will Power, Kyle Kirkwood and Alex Rossi were the only drivers in the top 17 on the 27-car grid to select Firestone alternates with the green guayule sidewalls to start the race, with front-row starter Power’s mission very clearly to get ahead of polesitter Felix Rosenqvist as soon as possible.

Rosenqvist made a strong start, but in protecting the inside line he allowed Power to go around the outside, and by the end of lap one his lead was 1.1s, with Rosenqvist pursued by Newgarden, Marcus Ericsson, Herta and Palou. Dixon got around Christian Lundgaard for seventh, while Kirkwood on his softer rubber got Marcus Armstrong into Turn 8.

Newgarden and Ericsson passed Rosenqvist on successive laps, and soon the polesitter was under pressure from Herta, while Kirkwood got another place on lap five, deposing Lundgaard. Meanwhile, there was some internal strife at Arrow McLaren, when Pato O’Ward ran into Alex Rossi’s sister machine at the fountain turn, sending the latter to the pits with a punctured tire, and O’Ward to the pits for a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.

Herta and Palou got around Rosenqvist on laps seven and eight respectively, leaving him as prey for Dixon.

Up front, on lap 12, Power held a 6.3s lead over teammate Newgarden, with Ericsson, Herta, Palou and Rosenqvist running 1.3s apart behind.

The first and only yellow flew on lap 15 when Christian Rasmussen spun his Ed Carpenter Racing car out of Turn 4 due to a broken toe link sustained in a wall-brush at Turn 11. While he was crashing, poor Jack Harvey of Dale Coyne Racing tried to squeeze between the ECR car and the wall but sustained significant damage on both sides.

When the pits opened on lap 16, Power chose to stop, as did Dixon, Kirkwood, Lundgaard and Scott McLaughlin. Lundgaard was sent into the path of Kirkwood but no harm done. Power, Dixon, Lundgaard, Kirkwood and McLaughlin led the alternative strategy cars in 12th-16th, but Power and Lundgaard had chosen this stint to go for primaries, while Dixon, Kirkwood and McLaughlin elected to take alternates.

The restart was clean, although Newgarden couldn’t extend his lead over Ericsson until he put the repaired car of Harvey between them. Further back, Dixon used his alternates to pass Power by cannoning out of the hairpin and getting him into Turn 1. Meanwhile, Lundgaard’s unsafe release on pitlane had elicited a penalty from race control, whereby the Dane had to give up five places.

Rosenqvist, who had been struggling with brake issues since the start, was the first of the “regular strategy” cars to stop, pitting on lap 29. Newgarden and Ericsson pitted next time around, with Palou stopping and re-emerging between them. Ericsson tried hard to remedy that situation but finally ceded the track position at Turn 8. Herta stopped last of the leaders, emerging behind Newgarden but ahead of Palou and Ericsson.

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Up front, the alternative-strategy cars were now to the fore. On lap 40, Dixon was leading Power by 6s, with Kirkwood 1.5s further back and McLaughlin another 2.7s in arrears.

Newgarden was cutting through slower cars to rise to sixth by lap 49. And crucially, he was staying within 20s of the fuel saving Dixon up front. Rahal pulled into the pits from fifth, but there was a refueling issue with the No. 15 RLL car.

Dixon and Power pitted on lap 51, the Kiwi taking more alternates, the Aussie taking more primaries, while Kirkwood went one lap longer and emerged still ahead of McLaughlin.

Thus Newgarden was back up front on the normal strategy, leading Herta by 3.7s, with Palou another 2.2s back and being chased hard by former teammate Ericsson. Newgarden set some scintillating times, pitting on lap 57 and coming out in the gap between Dixon and Power. Herta went for scrubbed alternates when he stopped, as did Palou. The latter emerged behind the pace-crippled Power, but soon demoted him to fifth to resume his chase of Herta. Up front, Dixon’s lead over Newgarden was down to 3.6s by lap 65 with 20 to go.

Ericsson was the next to pass Power, taking fifth on lap 66, while McLaughlin also struck misfortune, limping the No. 3 to the pits with a mechanical issue.

Dixon was doing a fine job up front, using just enough push-to-pass to squirt away from Newgarden out of the hairpin, but the overall pace was backing Newgarden up toward the Herta vs. Palou battle, an issue exacerbated by backmarkers. The top four were covered by just 2.15s.

At the end of lap 77, Herta struck the back of Newgarden’s car, apparently triggering the anti-stall on the No. 2 Penske machine. As Newgarden struggled for pace off the corner, Herta and Palou shot past to become Dixon’s leading pursuers.

Herta, like Newgarden, could not make it happen, and Dixon chalked up his second Long Beach win, and the 57th of his career by 0.9798s, with Herta just 0.7866s adrift.

Newgarden held off Ericsson, while Power trickled home just ahead of Kirkwood to claim sixth. Romain Grosjean clinched eighth for Juncos Hollinger Racing ahead of the disappointed Rosenqvist and Rossi. Rossi’s new teammate, IndyCar debutant Theo Pourchaire claimed an impressive 11th.

RESULTS