2016 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

The 2016 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the third round of the 2016 IndyCar Series and the 42nd annual running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The race was contested over 80 laps on a temporary street circuit in Long Beach, California on April 17, 2016. Hélio Castroneves qualified on pole for the second consecutive race with a time of 1:07.1246. Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon started alongside him in second. Some confusion surrounded the second round of qualifying as timing and scoring malfunctioned. IndyCar officials would correct the mistakes caused by this and set the correct Fast Six qualifiers shortly after round two ended. Fast six qualifying was briefly delayed when Will Power clipped a tire barrier and went into a run-off area. Power started sixth due to his mishap.[1]

2016 Long Beach

Race details
3rd round of the 2016 IndyCar Series season
Date	April 17, 2016
Official name	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Location	Streets of Long Beach
Course	Temporary street circuit 1.968 mi / 3.167 km
Distance	80 laps 157.440 mi / 253.375 km
Pole position
Driver	Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Time	1:07.1246
Fastest lap
Driver	Charlie Kimball (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Time	1:07.6661 (on lap 8 of 80)
Podium
First	Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske)
Second	Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Third	Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)

Castroneves took the lead from the start and led 49 of the opening 51 laps. Behind him, Simon Pagenaud was able to move his way past Scott Dixon into second, while Dixon was scuffled down to fourth by the time the first round of pit stops came. During pit stops, Dixon was able to leapfrog Pagenaud and his teammate Tony Kanaan to move up to second. At the second round of stops, Dixon was able to pass Castroneves with quick pit work. However, Simon Pagenaud was able to move even faster and get out of the pits just ahead of Dixon, handing Pagenaud the lead of the race. Controversy surrounded this, though, as Pagenaud placed two tires over the blend line at the exit of pit lane while trying to beat Dixon to turn one. IndyCar officials let Pagenaud off with a warning for the incident, despite protests from Chip Ganassi Racing and Scott Dixon.[2] In the end, Pagenaud was able to hold on and take victory by 0.3032 seconds, the closest finish in the history of the Grand Prix of Long Beach. It was Pagenaud's first victory while driving for Team Penske and his first win since the second race of the 2014 Grand Prix of Houston.[3]

For only the 4th time in the history of the race, no full course caution occurred at any point.