2017 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

Qualifying was held on Saturday, April 8, 2017. For the third consecutive year, Hélio Castroneves qualified on pole for the event, setting a new track record in the process with a lap of 1:06.2254, at an average speed of 106.98 mph (172.17 km/h). Scott Dixon qualified in second, while Ryan Hunter-Reay qualified third. Finishing the Fast Six were James Hinchcliffe, Alexander Rossi, and Graham Rahal. Defending race winner Simon Pagenaud was penalized for interfering with one of his teammate Castroneves' laps and was stripped of his two fastest laps in the session, relegating him to last place on the grid.[3][4]

The race was held on Sunday, April 9. At the start of the race, pole sitter Hélio Castroneves timed the start poorly and immediately dropped five positions.[5] Scott Dixon led the race into turn one, with James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay behind. As the field worked the first turns of the race, Charlie Kimball and Will Power came together in turn four, sending both cars into the wall and bringing out the race's first caution period. Kimball was forced to retire from the race from the damage, while Power was able to continue on after a front wing change.[5]

When racing resumed, Dixon continued to hold the lead, while Hunter-Reay managed to slip past Hinchcliffe for second position. By lap 10, pit stops began to occur amongst drivers further back, including Mikhail Aleshin, Tony Kanaan, and the Andretti Autosport teammates Takuma Sato and Marco Andretti. Shortly after the stops, however, Andretti began to slow and eventually pulled off course and retired from the race. Race leader Dixon would make his pit stop shortly after this on lap 16, handing the lead to Hunter-Reay. The remaining front runners, committed to a two-stop strategy, remained on course longer, with Hinchcliffe and Alexander Rossi being the first to peel off on lap 28. By the time the pit sequence ended on lap 31, Dixon regained the lead, with Hunter-Reay following in second.[5]

Dixon, on his three-stop strategy, pitted again on lap 41, once again handing the lead to Hunter-Reay. Dixon was able to make significant ground on the leaders on his new tires and, as they came into the pits around lap 55, he resumed the lead with ease. After the cycle, Hinchcliffe managed to get ahead of Hunter-Reay. However, up front, a battle for the lead began brewing as Josef Newgarden managed to move into second place and put pressure on Dixon. On lap 60, however, he and his teammate Castroneves pitted, with Dixon following them in a lap latter, elevating Hinchcliffe to the race lead. During the sequence, Newgarden managed to get around Dixon. On lap 64, the complexion of the race suddenly changed, as Rossi suddenly ground to a halt on course, bringing out the race's second caution period with 21 laps remaining.[5]

At the restart, the running order was Hinchcliffe, Hunter-Reay, Sébastien Bourdais, Newgarden, and Dixon. Hinchcliffe was able to manage to pull out a lead on Hunter-Reay, but shortly thereafter, Hunter-Reay began to pull him back. Further back, a clash between Mikhail Aleshin and Tony Kanaan resulted in a puncture for Kanaan, dropping him down the order. Also in this time frame, Takuma Sato suddenly slowed on course and brought his car to a halt on an access lane.[5]

With five laps to go, second place Hunter-Reay suddenly slowed and stopped on course, bringing out the race's third and final caution period. Hunter-Reay's retirement meant that all four Andretti Autosport cars would fail to reach the end due to mechanical or electrical issues.[6] Sébastien Bourdais, running a quiet but steady race, suddenly moved into second, while Newgarden was boosted into third. On the restart Hinchcliffe was able to pull out a sizable lead on the front straight, securing his position for the short run to the end, and crossed the line 1.5 seconds ahead of Bourdais to take his first victory since the 2015 season and his first since his near fatal crash during practice for the 2015 Indianapolis 500.[7] Third place went to Newgarden, fourth to Dixon, and fifth Simon Pagenaud, who quietly moved his way up from the rear of the field to take a respectable finish. Rookie Ed Jones finished in sixth. As a result of the finish, Bourdais was able to extend his points lead in the championship, while Hinchcliffe moved into second place.[5][8][9]

Following a last lap incident with Mikhail Aleshin, J. R. Hildebrand was found to have broken a bone in his left hand.[10] He was not cleared to resume driving for the following race at Barber Motorsports Park.[11][12]

Pos	No.	Name	Grp.	Round 1	Round 2	Firestone Fast 6
1	3	Hélio Castroneves W	2	1:07.1407	1:06.4792	1:06.2254
2	9	Scott Dixon W	2	1:06.8297	1:06.2285	1:06.4123
3	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay W	1	1:07.0176	1:06.5320	1:06.4401
4	5	James Hinchcliffe	1	1:07.3209	1:06.4297	1:06.5291
5	98	Alexander Rossi	1	1:07.0961	1:06.2288	1:06.5595
6	15	Graham Rahal	1	1:07.2517	1:06.4109	1:06.7562
7	83	Charlie Kimball	1	1:07.4149	1:06.5404
8	2	Josef Newgarden	1	1:07.0619	1:06.6074
9	12	Will Power W	2	1:06.7340	1:06.6145
10	27	Marco Andretti	2	1:07.3054	1:06.6222
11	10	Tony Kanaan	2	1:07.0470	1:06.6262
12	18	Sébastien Bourdais W	2	1:07.0569	1:06.7853
13	19	Ed Jones R	1	1:07.5832
14	14	Carlos Muñoz	2	1:07.3738
15	21	J. R. Hildebrand	1	1:07.6931
16	7	Mikhail Aleshin	2	1:07.3893
17	4	Conor Daly	1	1:07.7977
18	26	Takuma Sato W	2	1:07.4699
19	20	Spencer Pigot	1	1:07.8442
20	8	Max Chilton	2	1:07.5333
21	1	Simon Pagenaud W	2	1:08.0439
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Source for individual rounds:[13]

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Time/Retired	Pit Stops	Grid	Laps Led	Pts.1
1	5	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	85	1:50:28.9818	2	4	25	51
2	18	Sébastien Bourdais W	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	85	+1.4940	3	12		40
3	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+2.3160	3	8		35
4	9	Scott Dixon W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	85	+2.7832	3	2	32	35
5	1	Simon Pagenaud W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+3.3934	3	21		30
6	19	Ed Jones R	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	85	+5.7951	3	13		28
7	14	Carlos Muñoz	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	85	+6.9393	3	14		26
8	20	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	85	+9.0570	3	19		24
9	3	Hélio Castroneves W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+9.3403	4	1		23
10	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	85	+17.8632	3	6		20
11	21	J. R. Hildebrand	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	84	Contact	3	15		19
12	7	Mikhail Aleshin	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	84	+1 Lap	3	16		18
13	12	Will Power W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	84	+1 Lap	5	9		17
14	8	Max Chilton	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	84	+1 Lap	4	20		16
15	10	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	84	+1 Lap	6	11		15
16	4	Conor Daly	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	84	+1 Lap	6	17		14
17	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay W	Andretti Autosport	Honda	79	Off Course	2	3	28	14
18	26	Takuma Sato W	Andretti Autosport	Honda	78	Off Course	4	18		12
19	98	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Herta Autosport	Honda	62	Mechanical	2	5		11
20	27	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Honda	14	Off Course	1	10		10
21	83	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	1	Contact	1	7		9
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Notes: ¹ Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.

Source for time gaps:[14]