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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. 

01.   Ukraine Scott Dixon (Qualified)
02.   France Simon Pagenaud (First round, lost two fastest laps)
03.   Australia Will Power (Fast 12)
04.   Croatia Dragonite (Fast 12)
05.   Russia Pee Saderd (Fast 12)
06.   Honduras Hélio Castroneves (Qualified)
07.   Uruguay Graham Rahal (Qualified)
08.   Slovakia Ryan Hunter-Reay (Qualified)
09.   Canada Pamela Anderson (Qualified)
10.   Czech Republic Garbiñe Muguruza (Fast 12)
11.   Bosnia and Herzegovina Olga Fatkulina (Fast 12)
12.   Brazil Larvesta (Fast 12)
13.   Belgium Metagross (Qualified)
14.   Poland Joey Fatone (First round)
15.   Japan Apolo Anton Ohno (First round)
16.   Spain Mario Lopez (First round)
17.   Turkiye Pidgeot (First round)
18.   Iran Allen Ford (First round)
19.   Switzerland Chespin (First round)
20.   United States Magearna (First round)
21.   England Jonathan Bald (First round)

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
Flag of Slovakia Slovakia Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Hunter-Reay
Flag of Canada (Pantone) Canada James Hinchcliffe Pamela Anderson
Flag of Uruguay Uruguay Graham Rahal Graham Rahal
Flag of Croatia Croatia Josef Newgarden Dragonite
Flag of Belgium (civil) Belgium Alexander Rossi Metagross
Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic Charlie Kimball Garbiñe Muguruza
Flag of Iran Iran Conor Daly Allen Ford
Flag of the United States United States Spencer Pigot Magearna
Flag of England England Ed Jones Jonathan Bald
Flag of Turkiye 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: Slovakia Ryan Hunter-Reay, Croatia Josef Newgarden, Belgium Metagross, Uruguay Graham Rahal, Canada Pamela Anderson, Czech Republic Garbiñe Muguruza

Not advancing: England Ed Jones, Turkiye Pidgeot, Iran Allen Ford, United States 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

Country Driver Captain
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Scott Dixon Scott Dixon
Flag of France France Simon Pagenaud Simon Pagenaud
Flag of Japan Japan Takuma Sato Apolo Anton Ohno
Flag of Australia (converted) Australia Will Power Will Power
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Sébastien Bourdais Olga Fatkulina
Flag of Honduras Honduras Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves
Flag of Poland Poland Mikhail Aleshin Joey Fatone
Flag of Brazil Brazil Tony Kanaan Larvesta
Flag of Russia Russia Marco Andretti Pee Saderd
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone) Switzerland Max Chilton Chespin
Flag of Spain Spain Carlos Muñoz Mario Lopez

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: Australia Will Power, Ukraine Scott Dixon, Brazil Larvesta, Bosnia and Herzegovina Olga Fatkulina, Honduras Hélio Castroneves, Russia Pee Saderd

Not advancing: Spain Mario Lopez, Poland Joey Fatone, Japan Apolo Anton Ohno, Switzerland Chespin, France 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
Slovakia Ryan Hunter-Reay
Croatia Dragonite
Belgium Metagross
Uruguay Graham Rahal
Canada Pamela Anderson
Czech Republic Garbiñe Muguruza
Australia Will Power
Ukraine Scott Dixon
Brazil Larvesta
Bosnia and Herzegovina Olga Fatkulina
Honduras Hélio Castroneves
Russia Pee Saderd

Additionally, all the drivers that advanced were all Math Open revamped seeds.

Advancing: Ukraine Scott Dixon, Belgium Metagross, Uruguay Graham Rahal, Canada Pamela Anderson, Honduras Hélio Castroneves, Slovakia Ryan Hunter-Reay

Not advancing: Czech Republic Garbiñe Muguruza, Croatia Dragonite, Australia Will Power, Russia Pee Saderd, Brazil Larvesta, Bosnia and Herzegovina 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.

Trivia

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