IndyCar

Pagenaud takes Long Beach victory amid pit exit debate

1 Mins read

Simon Pagenaud secured his first victory as a Team Penske driver after overcoming the challenge of Scott Dixon despite calls for the Frenchman to be penalised for cutting the exit of the pit lane during a pit stop.

Pagenaud extended his championship lead as a result of the victory at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, but appeared to re-enter the track before the end of the yellow lines indicating the end of pit road, but stewards deemed the move to warrant no more than a warning.

Chip Ganassi Racing in particular were unhappy with the call, as this denied their driver Scott Dixon a second win in three races in 2016 in a race that went caution-free for the first time since 1989.

Pole sitter Helio Castroneves led the opening 47 laps but lost positions during the pit stop window to ultimate finish third, also for Team Penske, while team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya ended fourth.

Takuma Sato drove a strong race to end fifth for AJ Foyt Enterprises, just running out of time to pass Montoya after using his push-to-pass button wisely in the final stint of the race to gain track position.

Tony Kanaan took his Chip Ganassi Racing machine to sixth ahead of the fourth Team Penske entry of Will Power and the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports entry of James Hinchcliffe, while Sebastien Bourdais (KVSH Racing) and Josef Newgarden (Ed Carpenter Racing) completed the top ten in a largely processional race.

Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Race Result

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