IndyCar: Rossi not giving away any of his Long Beach secrets

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Alexander Rossi won the Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2018 and 2019 and he always runs strong on the streets of Long Beach.

In this pre-race press conference, Rossi was asked what are the secrets to success at Long Beach?

“I don’t have an answer for you,” said Rossi, 31, of Nevada City, Calif. “For me, it’s always an exciting event there, and Laguna (Seca). You know, it’s a home race in the sense that I’m from California. I always have a lot of friends and family turn out.

“I think … it kind of gives it a little bit of a subconscious boost and a little bit of extra motivation. We hear Josef (Newgarden) talk all the time about how much he would like to win Nashville, his home race. I think that sort of kind of exists.”

“Beyond that, I’ve been fortunate to have good [Andretti Autosport] cars there and, yeah, I think it certainly is a track that suits my driving style,” Rossi said.

“If I had an answer for you, then I’d probably win every race,” he said. “But it’s not just one thing, it’s a combination of things working out to be in your favor.”

“Qualifying’s very critical, but especially at Long Beach because the way it works out, it’s a two-stop race; it’s a pretty straight-forward two-stop race,” he said. “There’s not many yellows. It’s a pretty clean race, historically speaking, so the leader doesn’t really get hung out by a closed-pit situation type of thing.

“So, yeah, it’s very important to start at the top two or three, I think, if you’re going to want to try and win that race.”