2012 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

The 2012 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the third race of the 2012 IndyCar Series season. The race was run on April 15, 2012 in Long Beach, California, United States at Streets of Long Beach.

2012 Long Beach

Race details
3rd round of the 2012 IndyCar Series season
Date	April 15, 2012
Official name	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Location	Streets Of Long Beach Long Beach, California
Course	Temporary street circuit 1.968 mi / 3.167 km
Distance	85 laps 167.280 mi / 269.211 km
Weather	Temperatures up to 68 °F (20 °C); wind speeds up to 13 miles per hour (21 km/h) with partly cloudy skies
Pole position
Driver	Ryan Briscoe (Team Penske)
Time	1:08.6089
Fastest lap
Driver	Tony Kanaan (KV Racing Technology)
Time	1:09.3541 (on lap 73 of 85)
Podium
First	Will Power (Team Penske)
Second	Simon Pagenaud (Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports)
Third	James Hinchcliffe (Andretti Autosport)

Report

Background

The first two races of the 2012 IndyCar Series season were held in St. Petersburg and Barber. The races were dominated by Team Penske with two poles and two wins in a row. In St. Petersburg, Will Power took the pole and Hélio Castroneves won the victory, but at Barber things were reversed. Going into Long Beach, Castroneves led in the drivers' championship with 86 points, while Chevrolet led the manufacturers' championship.

Before the first practice, all Chevrolet entries were penalized because of unauthorized engine changes. This penalty moved the polesitter, Ryan Briscoe, from starting in the first position down to the 11th spot. Dario Franchitti, in the quickest non-Chevrolet car, started in the first position.

Classification

Starting grid

Dario Franchitti started on pole after all Chevrolet-powered cars were penalized 10 grid positions.

Row	Inside		Outside
1	10	Dario Franchitti	67	Josef Newgarden (R)
2	18	Justin Wilson	77	Simon Pagenaud (R)
3	9	Scott Dixon	15	Takuma Sato
4	14	Mike Conway	38	Graham Rahal
5	83	Charlie Kimball	98	Alex Tagliani
6	2	Ryan Briscoe†	12	Will Power†
7	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay†	19	James Jakes
8	5	E. J. Viso†	27	James Hinchcliffe†
9	78	Simona de Silvestro	3	Hélio Castroneves†
10	11	Tony Kanaan †	4	J. R. Hildebrand †
11	26	Marco Andretti †	8	Rubens Barrichello †
12	22	Oriol Servià †	20	Ed Carpenter †
13	7	Sebastien Bourdais †	6	Katherine Legge (R) †
† Briscoe, Power, Hunter-Reay, Viso, Hinchcliffe, Castroneves, Kanaan, Hildebrand, Andretti, Barrichello, Servià, Carpenter, Bourdais and Legge penalised 10 places for changing engine

Race results

Will Power won his second straight race.

Simon Pagenaud (left) finished second. Ryan Hunter-Reay finished third on the road, but was penalized for avoidable contact.

James Hinchcliffe finished third after Hunter-Reay's penalty.

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Laps Led	Points1
1	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	1:54:01.6082	12	15	50
2	77	Simon Pagenaud (R)	Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports	Honda	85	+ 0.8675	4	26	42
3	27	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	85	+ 13.2719	16	0	35
4	11	Tony Kanaan	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	85	+ 18.1951	19	0	32
5	4	J. R. Hildebrand	Panther Racing	Chevrolet	85	+ 22.9947	20	0	30
6	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	85	+ 42.5631†	13	4	28
7	2	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+ 1:40.1271	11	5	27
8	15	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	84	+ 1 lap	6	16	24
9	8	Rubens Barrichello	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	84	+ 1 lap	22	0	22
10	18	Justin Wilson	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	84	+ 1 lap	3	15	20
11	19	James Jakes	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	84	+ 1 lap	14	0	19
12	5	E. J. Viso	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	84	+ 1 lap	15	0	18
13	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Chevrolet	84	+1 lap†	18	0	17
14	20	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	83	+ 2 laps	24	0	16
15	10	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	82	+ 3 laps	1	4	15
16	22	Oriol Servià	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Lotus	82	+ 3 laps	23	0	14
17	7	Sebastien Bourdais	Dragon Racing	Lotus	82	+ 3 laps	25	0	13
18	83	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	80	+ 5 laps	9	0	12
19	6	Katherine Legge (R)	Dragon Racing	Lotus	80	+ 5 laps	26	0	12
20	78	Simona de Silvestro	HVM Racing	Lotus	74	Mechanical	17	0	12
21	98	Alex Tagliani	Team Barracuda – BHA	Lotus	46	Mechanical	10	0	12
22	14	Mike Conway	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Honda	41	Mechanical	7	0	12
23	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	27	Mechanical	5	0	12
24	38	Graham Rahal	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	23	Contact	8	0	12
25	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	22	Contact	21	0	10
26	67	Josef Newgarden (R)	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda	0	Contact	2	0	10
† Hunter-Reay and Castroneves penalised 30 seconds for avoidable contact

Notes

¹ Points include 1 point for pole position and 2 points for most laps led.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Will Power	127
2	Hélio Castroneves	103
3	Simon Pagenaud (R)	100
4	Scott Dixon	96
5	James Hinchcliffe	95

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for the driver standings.

Manufacturers' Championship

Pos	Manufacturer	Points
1	Chevrolet	27
2	Honda	18
3	Lotus	12

See also

• 2012 American Le Mans Series at Long Beach