Dixon sips fuel to win as Newgarden and Herta collide in his mirrors

Scott Dixon won the Long Beach Grand Prix with a fuel-sipping masterpiece of a drive which surprised even himself.

After climbing from the cockpit of his Ganassi machine Dixon admitted he thought his team had been too ambitious with his refuelling strategy. But by ekeing out a pair of 33-lap stints, and aided by contact behind him, he snatched victory from eighth on the grid.

Dixon moved into the lead by pitting after Christian Rasmussen broke his suspension and crashed on lap 17, triggering a caution period. Will Power, who took the lead from pole-winner Felix Rosenqvist on the first lap, also took that first opportunity to pit, but went on to finish sixth.

Josef Newgarden looked the favourite to win after he refuelled on lap 30, a much more sensible point to make the first of two pit stops. By the time he emerged from his second stop on lap 59, ahead of Power, Dixon was seven seconds up the road. But while the Ganassi driver was sipping his fuel to reach the end, Newgarden could drive flat-out.

Newgarden was on Dixon’s tail with 15 laps to go, the gap between the pair less than half a second at times. While the Penske driver pressed him hard, he couldn’t find a way by. Colton Herta and Alex Palou drew close, forming a four-way fight for the lead.

Ahead, a cluster of four backmarkers offered Newgarden an opportunity. But before he had the chance to take it he was hit by behind at the hairpin by Herta, who admitted he went in slightly too hard. The contact lifted the rear of Newgarden’s car, putting it into anti-stall, and allowing Herta and Palou through while the Penske got going again.

Now Herta bore down on Dixon, though the Ganassi driver gained some respite when he lapped team mate Kyffin Simpson, who kept stuck between the leading pair for a lap. Herta dived past him with four laps to go, but ran out of time to attempt a move on Dixon.

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The six-times champion therefore clinched victory, leading home Herta and Palou. Newgarden, fourth, was frustrated by the lack of any penalty for Herta. Marcus Ericsson took fifth ahead of Power and last year’s winner Kyle Kirkwood. Rosenqvist sank to ninth after encountering brake problem, taking the chequered flag behind Juncos Hollinger’s Romain Grosjean.

Alexander Rossi completed the top 10 on a poor day for McLaren. He was hit from behind early on by team mate Pato O’Ward, who unlike Herta served a drive-through penalty for his infraction, and went on to take the chequered flag in 16th.

McLaren could at least be pleased with the performance of David Malukas’ latest stand-in, Formula 2 champion Theo Pourchaire, who claimed 11th. He produced a rapid and error-free drive, and even managed to overtake the eventual race winner when Dixon appeared in front of him following a pit stop.

Dixon dedicated his victory to Colin Giltrap, a significant figure in his career and that of many other New Zealand racers.

Race result

P.	No.	Driver	Team	Engine
1	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi	Honda
2	26	Colton Herta	Andretti/Curb-Agajanian	Honda
3	10	Alex Palou	Ganassi	Honda
4	2	Josef Newgarden	Penske	Chevrolet
5	28	Marcus Ericsson	Andretti	Honda
6	12	Will Power	Penske	Chevrolet
7	27	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti	Honda
8	77	Romain Grosjean	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
9	60	Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank	Honda
10	7	Alexander Rossi	McLaren	Chevrolet
11	6	Theo Pourchaire	McLaren	Chevrolet
12	11	Marcus Armstrong	Ganassi	Honda
13	8	Linus Lundqvist	Ganassi	Honda
14	21	Rinus VeeKay	Carpenter	Chevrolet
15	78	Agustin Canapino	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
16	5	Pato O’Ward	McLaren	Chevrolet
17	15	Graham Rahal	RLL	Honda
18	41	Sting Ray Robb	Foyt	Chevrolet
19	4	Kyffin Simpson	Ganassi	Honda
20	51	Nolan Siegel	Coyne	Honda
21	14	Santino Ferrucci	Foyt	Chevrolet
22	66	Tom Blomqvist	Meyer Shank	Honda
23	45	Christian Lundgaard	RLL	Honda
24	30	Pietro Fittipaldi	RLL	Honda
25	18	Jack Harvey	Coyne	Honda
26	3	Scott McLaughlin	Penske	Chevrolet
27	20	Christian Rasmussen	Carpenter	Chevrolet

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