Josef Newgarden outlasted Romain Grosjean when he let General Motors sweep California in Long Beach
LONG BEACH, California – Josef Newgarden took his first win on the downtown streets of Long Beach, holding off Romain Grosjean on Sunday to make Team Penske 3-on-3 open to the IndyCar season.
Newgarden led 32 laps high to win the second race in a row. Penske’s teammate Scott McLaughlin won the opener at St.Petersburg, then Newgarden won in Texas and now Long Beach to overtake McLaughlin from the championship lead.
The Penske team last opened an IndyCar season with three straight wins in 2012, when the team won the first four races.
Newgarden was challenged for the final 15 laps by Grosjean, a former Formula One driver looking for his first career IndyCar win. Jimmie Johnson, who broke his arm in a crash Friday and raced in carbon fiber, crashed with 10 laps left to issue a warning and to give Grosjean and reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou during the start. last move.
The race was green with five laps remaining and Grosjean had some good looks inside Newgarden but couldn’t pull despite his attempt to win. Takuma Sato crashed when the lap was left to issue one final warning and Newgarden won cautiously.
Newgarden, who won his 10th career start in America’s most prestigious street race, said: “I gave my all against Grosjean at the last point there.
Victory helped General Motors sweep Long Beach; Cadillac took a 1-2 lead on Saturday in the IMSA sports car race and Newgarden won in a Chevrolet.
Grosjean finished second for Andretti Autosport, who were looking for a fourth straight win at Long Beach. Andretti drivers Alexander Rossi won in 2018 and 2019, Colton Herta won in 2021 and started from pole on Sunday.
He took the lead 28 laps but gave the lead to Newgarden when Herta rushed out of the race with 29 laps remaining. He said he pushed too hard when he crashed.
“It was just a stupid mistake. We certainly made that,” Herta said. “Unfortunately. I feel really bad. The car is amazing. It’s a bit over the top today.”
Palou finished third on his 10th podium in 19 races since joining Chip Ganassi Racing early last year.
Team Penske’s Will Power finished fourth and Pato O’Ward salvaged his poor start to the season in fifth. The Arrow McLaren SP driver was tipped to be a championship contender but made mistakes in the first three races weekend and has to admit he was distracted by his desire to land a new contract.
Scott Dixon was sixth for Ganassi, followed by Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and then Rossi. Helio Castroneves is 9th for Meyer Shank Racing and Kyle Kirkwood is 10th for AJ Foyt Racing.
Johnson placed 20th to close one of the worst weekends of his career. He broke his arm in Friday’s collision, fell again in Saturday practice, was penalized for the two fastest qualifying laps for obstructing Rahal, and then was disqualified from Sunday’s race.
“I had [bad weekends] before,” Johnson said. But it comes with it. I definitely feel bad putting the team in this position. This deal is not easy. You have to live on razor blades on street races and there is no margin for error. Try to be faster, try to be more competitive, I made some mistakes this weekend and will learn from it. “
