Simon Pagenaud revelled in his first Verizon IndyCar Series victory with Team Penske after triumphing during Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The Frenchman took his first victory since Houston in 2014 when racing for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, and has enjoyed an impressive start to this season having finished in the runners-up spot in the opening two events of the year before taking this victory around the street circuit.
Pagenaud’s victory also helps him to extend his championship lead to fourteen points over Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing, who he held off for the Long Beach triumph by just 0.3032s at the end of the caution-free race, which was also the fastest ever IndyCar race at the track.
“It is pretty cool,” revealed Pagenaud afterwards. “I tell you this is my favourite street course. So winning here, especially in IndyCar with the level of competition so high, it is amazing.
“That PPG car is good luck on me. Every time I have been in that car I have been on the podium. It’s awesome, glad to represent those guys and Chevrolet. They gave me a hell of a piece of equipment.
“And it’s my first win with Roger, so ‘check.'”
