IndyCar Recap: April 2017 – Long Beach, Barber, Phoenix

2017 Verizon IndyCar Series

There were 3 races in the month of April, starting with the iconic Long Beach Grand Prix, followed by the rolling hills of Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, then just a week later the first oval of the year with a return to Phoenix. I’m not sure who designs the schedule but Florida-California-Alabama-Arizona must give the logistics people a real headache, surely this can be swapped around next year.

9th April:  GP of Long Beach
23rd April:  GP of Alabama
30th April:  Phoenix GP

2017 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

9th April 2017 – Race 2 of 17 – Long Beach, California, USA

Should you watch this race?  Yes definitely! One of the best Long Beach IndyCar GP’s I’ve seen in a while, really worth a look.

Video: Full Race (2h16m)

If you’re a Formula 1 fan getting into IndyCar the 2017 Long Beach GP is a good one to watch. Plenty of overtaking by street course standards and a strategic battle between three stops and two.

It was a surprise to see Castroneves drop back on the start. Scott Dixon assumed the lead as Ryan Hunter-Reay made up places. The field only got past the fountain before Charlie Kimball and Will Power got into each other, it looked like Kimball already had the corner and Power was trying to go up the inside at what is not a passing place for these cars. Kimball was out.

Simon Pagenaud was at the back but at the restart made up 9 positions in a couple of laps, great performance! The rest of the race was a brilliant mix of strategy and driving flat out, which was the way to make the 3 stop strategy work.

As it turned out, James Hinchcliffe was the only one to make the 2 stop strategy work and he took a well deserved win, after earlier taking the lead by staying out longer and making the most of several late Safety Cars.

Andretti Autosport had a dreadful day, all four cars out with technical problems with Hunter-Reay going out from 2nd place with 6 laps to go.

Also the NBCSN coverage was top notch, really good information all race, presenting explanations to new viewers without being in the slightest bit condescending to existing fans, something that has troubled motorsport broadcasters for years.

1. 5 James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt Honda);
2. 18 Sebastien Bourdais (Coyne Honda);
3. 2 Josef Newgarden (Penske Chevy);
4. 9 Scott Dixon (Ganassi Honda);
5. 1 Simon Pagenaud (Penske Chevy);
6. 19 Ed Jones (Coyne Honda);
7. 14 Carlos Munoz (Foyt Chevy);
8. 20 Spencer Pigot (Carpenter Chevy);
9. 3 Helio Castroneves (Penske Chevy);
10. 15 Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda);

Bourdais posted a second consecutive top 2 result. Ed Jones with a sensational run for a rookie. Munoz made up for a bad St Pete with 7th for Foyt, similarly Pigot 8th after second-last at the opener. Power couldn’t hang on to his wounded car and he wound up a lap down. All four Andretti cars in trouble early.

2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

23rd April 2017 – Race 3 of 17 – Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama, USA

Should you watch this race?  Yes, really frantic action early on then it turns into a tyre strategy contest with some great individual performances. Even a car on its own at this rollercoaster of a track is something to be seen.

Video: Full race (2h17m).

Will Power started from pole and got clear of a frantic pack which was somehow two-abreast for half a lap, at this place! This caused debris to come off Hunter-Reay’s car, a piece large enough to prompt a Safety Car. Newgarden had great pace early on, passed several cars before the SC.

For a while it seemed Newgarden would drive through the field but at halfway Scott Dixon was the man on fire, catching Newgarden quickly.

One interested observer at the track was Fernando Alonso, the shock of the previous week being the announcement he’d compete at the Indy 500 with Andretti! NBC even got him into the commentary box for an extended stint.

The SC came out again for Pigot spinning off, his drive a one-off subbing for an injured Hildebrand. At the restart Newgarden made another great pass at the penultimate corner – seemingly the only one brave enough to try it there – to pass Dixon for 2nd.

Will Power led all the way (though being chased) until at 14 laps to go he pitted with a slow puncture. Awful luck in the first 3 races for Power. That meant Newgarden took the win, a deserved one with the pace and the moves he made, but I can’t help but feel gutted for Power (and Hunter-Reay too).

1. 2 Josef Newgarden (Penske Chevy);
2. 9 Scott Dixon (Ganassi Honda);
3. 2 Simon Pagenaud (Penske Chevy);
4. 3 Helio Castroneves (Penske Chevy);
5. 28 Alexander Rossi (Andretti Honda);
6. 5 James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt Peterson Honda);
7. 10 Tony Kanaan (Ganassi Honda);
8. 18 Sebastien Bourdais (Coyne Honda);
9. 26 Takuma Sato (Andretti Honda);
10. 7 Mikhail Aleshin (Schmidt Peterson Honda);

Penske scored 3 in the top 4, oh so close to being 4 in the top 5. Hinchcliffe and Bourdais again in the top ten. Rossi finally got the Andretti team a result. Power ended up 14th.

2017 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix

30th April 2017 – Race 4 of 17 – Phoenix International Raceway, Avondale, Arizona, USA

Should you watch this race?  Your call. The speeds are incredible on-screen let alone how it must be trackside, so you need to see that, though there was very little overtaking. It is amazing how such a spectacle becomes routine when little is happening.

Video: Full race (2h17m):

Yes it is called a Grand Prix, yes it is on an oval, no I don’t know why.

The return to Phoenix after a decade away promising much but it wasn’t a race full of action, many blaming the high downforce package resulting in super-high cornering speeds. The speeds though were mind-blowing, just incredible to watch. Perhaps if they’d run low downforce, with higher top speeds and lower corner speeds, it would’ve promoted passing opportunities and a race would’ve broken out. Hopefully the 2018 aero package will solve this.

Not much more to say other than the Chevrolet swept the top 4. How much of that was Team Penske (3 in the top 4) and how much down to the engine, I don’t know. Really good to see Simon Pagenaud take an oval win, one which gave him the points lead.

1. 1 Simon Pagenaud (Penske Chevy);
2. 12 Will Power (Penske Chevy);
3. 21 JR Hildebrand (Carpenter Chevy);
4. 3 Helio Castroneves (Penske Chevy);
5. 9 Scott Dixon (Ganassi Honda);
6. 10 Tony Kanaan (Ganassi Honda);
7. 20 Ed Carpenter (Carpender Chevy);
8. 83 Charlie Kimball (Ganassi Honda);
9. 2 Josef Newgarden (Penske Chevy);
10. 14 Carlos Munoz (Foyt Chevy);

Power finally secured a podium finish which leapt him up the standings. Hildebrand was up there after a week out. And there’s Dixon again, 5th his worst result from 4 races.

Points Scored In April’s Races

	LB	ALA	PHO	APRIL
Simon Pagenaud	30	35	53	118
Josef Newgarden	35	51	23	109
Scott Dixon	35	41	30	106
James Hinchcliffe	51	28	18	97
Helio Castroneves	23	33	34	90
Will Power	17	20	41	78
Sebastien Bourdais	40	24	11	75
Tony Kanaan	15	26	28	69
Ed Jones	28	14	19	61
Carlos Munoz	26	13	20	59
Alexander Rossi	11	30	15	56
JR Hildebrand	19		35	54
Mikhail Aleshin	18	20	13	51
Ryan Hunter-Reay	14	19	17	50
Charlie Kimball	9	16	24	49
Takuma Sato	12	22	14	48
Graham Rahal	20	17	9	46
Max Chilton	16	18	10	44
Conor Daly	14	12	16	42
Spencer Pigot	24	10		34
Marco Andretti	10	9	12	31
Ed Carpenter			26	26
Zach Veach		11		11

The above table shows points scored during the three races held in April.

Pagenaud, Newgarden, Dixon all in three digits. Hinchcliffe and Castroneves scoring well.  Dixon and Castroneves the two not to win a race this month.

Further back, Hildebrand out-scored some notable names even though he missed a race! Hunter-Reay and Rahal are people you’d consider championship contenders but not with a start to the year like this.

The table below shows the championship positions after the four races held this year, including St. Pete.

Points Total To 30th April

Pos	Pre	+/-	Name	Pre	APR	Total	Wins
1	2	1	Simon Pagenaud	41	118	159	1
2	3	1	Scott Dixon	35	106	141
3	8	5	Josef Newgarden	24	109	133	1
4	1	-3	Sebastien Bourdais	53	75	128	1
5	9	4	James Hinchcliffe	23	97	120	1
6	6	0	Helio Castroneves	28	90	118
7	17	10	Will Power	13	78	91
8	12	4	Tony Kanaan	18	69	87
9	4	-5	Ryan Hunter-Reay	32	50	82
10	10	0	Ed Jones	20	61	81
11	5	-6	Takuma Sato	31	48	79
12	11	-1	Alexander Rossi	19	56	75
13	13	0	JR Hildebrand	17	54	71
14	21	7	Carlos Munoz	9	59	68
15	14	-1	Mikhail Aleshin	16	51	67
16	19	3	Charlie Kimball	12	49	61
17	18	1	Graham Rahal	13	46	59
18	16	-2	Max Chilton	14	44	58
19	7	-12	Marco Andretti	26	31	57
=	15	-5	Conor Daly	15	42	57
21	20	-1	Spencer Pigot	10	34	44
22	22	0	Ed Carpenter	0	26	26
23	22	-1	Zach Veach	0	11	11

The ‘Pre’ column on the right is ‘Previous Score’, in this case the points from St. Pete.

There is a long way to go but already the protagonists for the 2017 title are sorting themselves from the rest. Simon Pagenaud leaps to an early lead.

Here is a go at making a graph, excuse the cheap graphics, I’m using LibreOffice.

Next Month

Come back in a few days for my recap of the famous Month of May with the Indy Grand Prix on the road course followed by the double-points Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.