Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver, James Hinchcliffe, recorded his first Verizon IndyCar Series win since his nearly fatal Indianapolis 500 accident in 2015.
Driving the No. 5 Arrow Honda, Hinchcliffe crossed the finish line 1.4940 seconds ahead of Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais, the winner of last month’s season opener.
Hinchcliffe’s last win came at NOLA Motorsports Park in April 2015, a month before the crash caused when a suspension piece on the car broke at 220-plus mph on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. Hinchcliffe returned to racing last season and captured the Indianapolis 500 pole position, but had yet to win another race until today.
We won Long Beach! So proud of @SPMIndyCar boys for the effort this weekend. Great to have @ArrowGlobal car back in victory lane! pic.twitter.com/zLIuj3eXkn
— James Hinchcliffe (@Hinchtown) April 10, 2017
“To finally do what was goal No. 1 when we set out at the start of the season, to get back into winner’s circle, to do so as early in the season as we have, as convincingly as we did, was great,” said Hinchcliffe, who recorded the fifth victory of his seven-year Verizon IndyCar Series career.
Bourdais, driving the No. 18 Trench Shoring Honda, recovered from rear wing damage sustained from debris when the cars of Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball made contact on Lap 1. Coupled with his win March 12 in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, it gave Bourdais a 19-point lead over Hinchcliffe in the championship after two of 17 races.
“The fuel saving we could achieve today with the performance we had on the Honda was amazing,” said Bourdais, the four-time Indy car champion who won three straight Long Beach races from 2005-07. “I’ve always been pretty comfortable saving fuel and that one sort of came to us today.”
💪🏻After finishing third at Long Beach, @josefnewgarden gave us his take on today's race. 🏁#TGPLB #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/WghVNhMFe4
— Team Penske (@Team_Penske) April 10, 2017
Josef Newgarden finished third in the No. 2 Verizon Chevrolet, earning his best Long Beach result and first top-three finish since joining Team Penske this season.
“It’s always good to get the first podium out of the way for the Captain,” Newgarden said of team owner Roger Penske. “It was a pleasure to drive this weekend. Verizon gives us great tools at Team Penske. It’s nice to get this one out of the way. Hopefully, now we can hunt down some wins.”
Congrats to this clown, @Hinchtown today at the beach. And bonus, we have a future @IndyCar boy @ColtonHerta with us pic.twitter.com/YaixrAOjLe
— Josef Newgarden (@josefnewgarden) April 10, 2017
SOURCE: INDYCAR