Friday morning update from Long Beach
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| Juan Montoya |
Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya are two of the more iconic personalities in American open-wheel racing, and now the two stars will be etched in history forever.
Castroneves, who won the Indianapolis 500 three times, and Montoya, who won Indy twice and the 1999 CART World Series, were inducted Thursday in to the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame during a ceremony in front of the Long Beach Convention Center.
Some of the past honorees include Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Al Unser Jr., Mario and Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal and Roger Penske.
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| Helio Castroneves |
“For me, it’s an honor to be here," Castroneves said. “When you see the names on the list (who have been honored), it’s incredible for me to join them. I will always remember this place.
“You can ask any driver in the series which street race they want to win and they will say Long Beach, because your name, your photo are going to be here forever. It’s such an honor."
“This is unbelievable. It’s a huge deal," Montoya said. “I came back here a few years ago when Roger (Penske) was honored and it was huge. There are so many names here.
“You don’t realize when you are racing and you win. You don’t do it to get here. But to get recognized, it’s amazing."
Great Weather
Friday was sunny and cool and the weather forecast for the rest of the weekend is perfect, which is always the case her in Long Beach. Temperatures should rise in the high 70s for Saturday and Sunday. As typical Friday morning is track cleaning day as drivers look to lay down rubber and clean the dust and dirt off the track.
IMSA First Practice done
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| Friday morning in Long Beach before the gates opened |
Felipe Nasr led the way in opening IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship practice ahead of tomorrow’s Bubba Burger Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The Brazilian reeled off a 1:13.582 late in the two-hour session to put his No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R atop the time sheets, bumping countryman Helio Castroneves in the Penske Acura.
GT Le Mans saw a 1-2 sweep from Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, led by the No. 67 Ford GT of Ryan Briscoe.
Briscoe’s 1:17.898 edged out teammate Dirk Mueller by 0.095 seconds, with the pair of Porsche 911 RSRs ending up third and fourth.
Other tidbits
Zachary Claman De Melo is in the #19 Dale Coyne, Jack Harvey is in the #60 Meyer Shank Honda this weekend
NAPA livery is back on the Alexander Rossi car for this weekend.
Canadian James Hinchcliffe won here last season says “There’s definitely a bit of heightened expectation internally, knowing, ‘Hey, we’ve been here before, we’ve run well, we’ve won here.’ But we have to do it again; we have to prove it wasn’t a fluke. That comes with an expectation.
“But at the same time, you have the confidence knowing that you can do it. Last year’s win wasn’t the lucky yellow flag or anything like that. We qualified up front, we ran well, we had good pitstops. He deserved to win. Knowing that, it gives you confidence that you can do it again."
"Last year's win was pretty special, for sure," Hinchcliffe said. “It was a validation of all the hard work that had gone on during the 18 months since the accident and prove we could still do it. To do it here, of all places. After Indy, this is the longest running event. It’s the best attended event after Indy.
“I think for a lot of drivers (who would say that) after Indy, it’s the race you want to win the most, so to knock off a win here is kind of a bucket list deal. To have it be the first win after the accident made it extra special."
Alexander Rossi has the bit between his teeth this weekend. He feels he should have won the first two races of 2018 and last year he was leading before his engine failed here in Long Beach. Consider this – Rossi was over 1.5 laps down in Phoenix after his drive-thru penalty and with all green flag running he passed every car in the field and gained almost 2 miles on the field in traffic. If he was out front the entire time he would have lapped the field twice.
We have been telling you how great Alexander Rossi is since we saw him in Formula BMW in 2008. Watch him drive in the corners and you will see some real talent. He won the overall championship that year, becoming the first American Formula BMW Champion in the Americas Championship, with ten wins from the fifteen races run. He belongs in F1 and has the talent to be the next American F1 champion, but he did not have the money to buy a top ride and the Anti-American Haas team looks down on American drivers so he never got the shot he deserved.
He won many GP3 and GP2/F2 races. What's an American to do to get into F1?
F1's loss is IndyCar's gain.
Mark C. reporting from Long Beach