Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League witnessed another impressive performance from Scott Dixon, who once again showcased his exceptional fuel-saving skills to secure a victory at Long Beach. However, Josef Newgarden, the current leader of the IndyCar championship, was unable to challenge Dixon due to a collision with Colton Herta. Meanwhile, Theo Pourchaire, the reigning Formula 2 champion, made a remarkable debut in the series by finishing in 11th place.
At the start of the race, Will Power, Newgarden’s teammate at Penske, executed a brilliant maneuver by tucking in behind Felix Rosenqvist, the polesitter, and then swiftly overtaking him on the outside of Turn 1 to claim the lead. Unfortunately for Rosenqvist and his Meyer Shank team, they struggled to keep their tires in good condition, causing him to drop to sixth place within the first 10 laps.
Power managed to build a significant 7.1-second lead before the first caution was triggered on lap 15. Ed Carpenter’s reigning Indy NXT champion, Christian Rasmussen, had a crash that seemed to be caused by a mechanical failure. Surprisingly, Power decided to pit during the caution, which meant he would have to save an extraordinary amount of fuel to complete the race with just one more stop. On the other hand, Newgarden and 11 other drivers chose to stay out.
Shortly after the caution, Dixon overtook Power and took control of the race using a different strategy. Meanwhile, Newgarden and the group of drivers following his lead opted for a less conservative approach and began pitting around the 30th lap. By staying out longer, Herta and Alex Palou managed to leapfrog Marcus Ericsson, with Palou successfully defending his position against Ericsson’s relentless pursuit.
Dixon extended his lead over Power to 7 seconds in the following stint before making his pit stop. Meanwhile, Newgarden and his group pushed hard to create a gap between themselves and Dixon, knowing that their final stop would determine their chances of catching up. Newgarden’s pace was exceptional as he set the fastest lap of the race just before pitting on lap 58. He emerged from the pit stop just over four seconds behind Dixon, with around 30 laps remaining and significantly fresher tires.
However, it took longer than expected for Newgarden to close the gap to Dixon, and being stuck in Dixon’s turbulent air allowed Herta and Palou to join the battle from over three seconds behind. Additionally, the presence of traffic further complicated the outcome of the race. On lap 77, a chain reaction resulted in Herta colliding with the back of Newgarden, who had slowed down due to an anti-stall mode activation at the hairpin. This incident allowed Herta and Palou to overtake Newgarden and challenge Dixon for the win.
Newgarden believed that Herta was at fault for the collision, and Herta admitted to misjudging the speed while entering the corner. Despite the incident, Herta was not penalized by IndyCar. Ultimately, Herta emerged as the only driver capable of challenging Dixon. However, despite his fuel-saving efforts, Dixon set his fastest lap on the penultimate lap and managed to hold off Herta to secure a magnificent victory.
Dixon’s performance was further boosted by an upgraded part from Honda, which has not been made available to all cars yet. Honda made this upgrade in response to the benefits it provided, which allowed them to have a much better qualifying session compared to the previous round dominated by Chevrolet. Herta finished in second place, followed by Palou in third. Newgarden, despite the collision, managed to secure fourth place and maintain his lead in the championship, 12 points ahead of Dixon.
Kyle Kirkwood, the winner of last year’s race, made an impressive climb from 10th on the grid to seventh. Romain Grosjean, driving for Juncos Hollinger Racing, secured his first top 10 finish with his new team, finishing in eighth place. Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi rounded out the top 10.
The reigning F2 champion, Theo Pourchaire, made a spectacular debut in IndyCar. Despite starting 22nd on the grid, he managed to move up to 18th before the first caution. During the final stint, Pourchaire adopted a similar strategy to Newgarden and did not pit. He closely followed his teammate Rossi, who had been involved in a collision with another Arrow McLaren driver, Pato O’Ward, earlier in the race. Pourchaire’s impressive performance allowed him to finish in 11th place, overtaking four cars in the final stint, including two Ganassi machines.
Pourchaire’s first experience in an IndyCar occurred during the first practice session on Friday, making his achievement as the top rookie of the race and the driver who gained the most positions from his starting position even more remarkable.