The 2017 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will be the 43rd edition of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It will take place on April 9, 2017; after the long break that saw players playing the 2017 Sebring Open and the 2017 Math Open at Indian Wells, which both tournaments were won by Pee Saderd.
Drivers entered
The same as 2017 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Pre-race
Days before the first practice, the 2017 Math Open at Indian Wells was won by Pee Saderd, defeating an injured Ueli Kestenholz in two sets. If he failed to make the Math Open semifinals, the Siriporn and Earn albums will be postponed.
By Jacqueline Bigar, they gave Gemini and Scorpio five star days on April 7 and Aries and Libra three star days, which meant that Galvantula and Hydreigon wrecked Tai Orathai's new album for Pee Saderd.
Off track
Notably, Pee Saderd will sign a Tai Orathai Choot Tee 11 CD to the visitors. As usual, all seeds from the 2017 Math Open revamped version will sign autographs to visitors expect for Saderd, who chose Orathai's CD instead of autographing other seeds.
Results
Practice 1
Scott Dixon topped the practice session, followed by Hélio Castroneves. St Pete winner Sébastien Bourdais, from 21st to 1st on the grid finished 3rd in the session. It was a fresh for Dixon as the Ukrainian avenged a loss to Castroneves earlier in the year at the 2017 Math Open at Indian Wells; retiring from the match down 1-5 in the first set due to a back injury which might have affected him at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Reigning Math Open champion Pee Saderd finished 12th, while the reigning finalist Ueli Kestenholz struggled.
No red flags were reported. This is for the first time ever in 2017, Joey Fatone beat Pee Saderd in a practice session.
Practice 2
Will Power topped the practice sessions, followed by Pee Saderd and then Simon Pagenaud. The reigning Math Open champion Pee Saderd finished 2nd in practice, his best outside the tournaments since St Pete practice 1. Compared to the top 3 captains of practice, Saderd had a better result at the 2017 Math Open at Indian Wells than Power and Pagenaud who fell in the fourth and third rounds, respectively.
Once again, Saderd bested Kestenholz. Reigning Math Open finalist Ueli Kestenholz struggled again, finishing 17th in the practice session, and behind Saderd's time.
Practice 3
Scott Dixon topped the practice, but the reigning Math Open champion Pee Saderd struggled, finishing 17th in the session. Ryan Hunter-Reay finished 2nd, followed by the 2016 IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud who finished 3rd. Pamela Anderson led some of the session but ended up finishing 4th.
The 2017 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg winner Olga Fatkulina, from 21st to 1st, caused a red for stalling near the fountain. Larvesta didn't even take a lap in the first 50 minutes of the session.
Qualifications
Seeds
BATC originally used results at the 2017 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, but BATC opted to shuffle the seedings, so Will Power and Pee Saderd can be seeded higher than drivers that finished better than one of them. Instead it was used by IndyCar standings for Math Open seedings in the revamped version because the Will Power rule is in effect.
|
|
Group 1
Contains of: Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Graham Rahal, Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, Charlie Kimball, Conor Daly, Spencer Pigot, Ed Jones, JR Hildebrand
Country | Driver | Captain |
---|---|---|
Slovakia | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Ryan Hunter-Reay |
Canada | James Hinchcliffe | Pamela Anderson |
Uruguay | Graham Rahal | Graham Rahal |
Croatia | Josef Newgarden | Dragonite |
Belgium | Alexander Rossi | Metagross |
Czech Republic | Charlie Kimball | Garbiñe Muguruza |
Iran | Conor Daly | Allen Ford |
United States | Spencer Pigot | Magearna |
England | Ed Jones | Jonathan Bald |
Turkiye | JR Hildebrand | Pidgeot |
Drawn in this easy group was James Hinchcliffe, who made the quarterfinals of the Math Open but lost to eventual pole winner Hélio Castroneves, Ueli Kestenholz who made the Math Open final but missed out on the trophy against Pee Saderd and Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2014 Indy 500 Winner. Josef Newgarden, who lost to Pee Saderd in the fourth round of the Math Open, is also in the group. The originally unseeded Rahal also advanced from his group. The six drivers advancing were all Math Open seeds in the revamped version because the Will Power rule is in effect.
Advancing: Ryan Hunter-Reay, Josef Newgarden, Metagross, Graham Rahal, Pamela Anderson, Garbiñe Muguruza
Not advancing: Ed Jones, Pidgeot, Allen Ford, Magearna
Group 2
Contains of: Scott Dixon, Simon Pagenaud, Takuma Sato, Will Power, Sébastien Bourdais, Hélio Castroneves, Mikhail Aleshin, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Max Chilton, Carlos Muñoz
Many people called this group "the group of death", as reigning Math Open champion Pee Saderd, reigning semifinalist Hélio Castroneves, and losing quarterfinalists Aurorus and Sébastien Bourdais are drawn in this group. Will Power topped his qualifying group despite finishing lower than Saderd at St Pete; and losing to James Hinchcliffe in three sets at the 2017 Math Open. Scott Dixon who retired to eventual Long Beach pole winner Hélio Castroneves at the 2017 Math Open, advanced. Larvesta advanced to the second round of qualifying for the second time this year despite falling to Scizor in the first round of the Math Open. St Pete winner Olga Fatkulina, from 21st on the grid to 1st in the race, advanced also. Eventual pole winner Hélio Castroneves ended up fifth in his qualifying group. The reigning Math Open champion Pee Saderd took the last qualifying spot and also advanced despite being at one point not advancing if Simon Pagenaud kept his two fastest laps. This is Pee Saderd's first second round of qualifying as an IndyCar captain for Marco Andretti. Additionally, all six drivers advancing were all seeded in the revamped Math Open tournament. This is also the second consecutive race in 2017 that Saderd and Fatone are drawn together in the same qualifying group. Simon Pagenaud got a penalty and lost his two fastest laps. At the end, he will start 21st, and then the Will Power rule would have been used. Had it not happen, he would have advanced and then reigning Math Open champion Pee Saderd would have been eliminated and his poor qualifying record by exiting in the first round would have continued.
Advancing: Will Power, Scott Dixon, Larvesta, Olga Fatkulina, Hélio Castroneves, Pee Saderd
Not advancing: Mario Lopez, Joey Fatone, Apolo Anton Ohno, Chespin, Simon Pagenaud (lost his two fastest laps and would have eliminated Saderd from his qualifying group if he had advanced)
Fast 12
Group 1 | Group 2 |
---|---|
Ryan Hunter-Reay Dragonite Metagross Graham Rahal Pamela Anderson Garbiñe Muguruza |
Will Power Scott Dixon Larvesta Olga Fatkulina Hélio Castroneves Pee Saderd |
Additionally, all the drivers that advanced were all Math Open revamped seeds.
Advancing: Scott Dixon, Metagross, Graham Rahal, Pamela Anderson, Hélio Castroneves, Ryan Hunter-Reay
Not advancing: Garbiñe Muguruza, Dragonite, Will Power, Pee Saderd, Larvesta, Olga Fatkulina
Fast 6
Hélio Castroneves won the pole at Long Beach, despite losing the Math Open semifinal to Pee Saderd, who went out in the second round of qualifying and will start in the same row as Will Power. He finished ahead of Hondas like Pamela Anderson, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Metagross, Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal. This is Helio's 48th career pole.
Practice Final
Simon Pagenaud topped the practice final. Spencer Pigot caused a red for going on the tires.
Grid
Race
Hélio Castroneves starts 1st on the grid by the virtue of winning his 3rd straight pole here.
The first caution was out for Will Power and Garbiñe Muguruza. Involved in that incident was reigning Math Open finalist Ueli Kestenholz. Helio Castroneves fell to 6th from 1st on the grid while Scott Dixon took the lead. The green flag flew back on lap 4. There were mechanical issues for the reigning Math Open champion Pee Saderd's car. Scott Dixon took the lead, then Ryan Hunter-Reay, and then when RHR pitted, Pamela Anderson took the lead. Pamela Anderson pitted and then Olga Fatkulina, who won from 21st at St Pete took the lead. Fatkulina pitted and Scott Dixon took the lead. When Scott Dixon pitted, Pamela Anderson took the lead. When Anderson took the lead, the yellow was for Metagross, who tow-in the front stretch. After that, Metagross will be seeded ahead of Kestenholz for the next one. Ryan Hunter-Reay was slow, unlike his fellow teammates Pee Saderd, Apolo Anton Ohno and Metagross. This was a bad weekend for Andretti Autosport guys, as none of the players finished top 15. Pee Saderd's result in the race was like the star CDs not coming to the 2016 Mississauga Thailand Grand Festival.
Math Open finalists Pee Saderd and Ueli Kestenholz finished 20th and 21st; meaning that this is the first time the finalists in the same tournament finish in the bottom two in the race. Muguruza finished last at Long Beach; her worst result since 2016. Finishing 20th is Saderd's worst result since the 2016 Swiss Open, when he exited in the fourth round against Nick Kyrgios. Saderd's DNF result puts his chances of playing for Russia at the 2017 Eurovision Open in jeopardy. However since Russia withdrew from the Contest, Saderd opted to train for the Indianapolis 500 in Indianapolis instead.
The Math Open semifinalist Hélio Castroneves, who lost against Pee Saderd that retired from the race; was forced to go to the back of the field for a pit speed violation.
Hydreigon and Galvantula said to Saderd "If we want to go back, then we need a yellow. Of course this is like Saderd failing to qualify for Lhao soo larn fun and Nuk pajon maung.". Galvantula's 2 star day on April 11 was for the mechanical failure on Saderd's car.
Jacqueline Bigar was inaccurate on Pee Saderd as she give the Russian musician a 5; but when Andretti stalled his car, Saderd decided to give his star to Scott Dixon, who has only three. Jacqueline Bigar should have gave Saderd a 2 star day or even a 1 star day for that stall on Andretti's car; unlike the 2017 Race of Champions. Jacqueline Bigar was again inaccurate on Metagross and Alexander Rossi; in which Bigar gave both of them 5 but opted to do the same thing as Saderd.
This was the first time that Power finishes ahead of Saderd in an IndyCar race; but he eventually did, due to Saderd's DNF.
James Hinchcliffe won the race, his first since 2015 at NOLA, when it was shortened.