# 2016 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

The 2016 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the third round of the 2016 IndyCar Series and the 42nd annual running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The race was contested over 80 laps on a temporary street circuit in Long Beach, California on April 17, 2016. Hélio Castroneves qualified on pole for the second consecutive race with a time of 1:07.1246. Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon started alongside him in second. Some confusion surrounded the second round of qualifying as timing and scoring malfunctioned. IndyCar officials would correct the mistakes caused by this and set the correct Fast Six qualifiers shortly after round two ended. Fast six qualifying was briefly delayed when Will Power clipped a tire barrier and went into a run-off area. Power started sixth due to his mishap.
Castroneves took the lead from the start and led 49 of the opening 51 laps. Behind him, Simon Pagenaud was able to move his way past Scott Dixon into second, while Dixon was scuffled down to fourth by the time the first round of pit stops came. During pit stops, Dixon was able to leapfrog Pagenaud and his teammate Tony Kanaan to move up to second. At the second round of stops, Dixon was able to pass Castroneves with quick pit work. However, Simon Pagenaud was able to move even faster and get out of the pits just ahead of Dixon, handing Pagenaud the lead of the race. Controversy surrounded this, though, as Pagenaud placed two tires over the blend line at the exit of pit lane while trying to beat Dixon to turn one. IndyCar officials let Pagenaud off with a warning for the incident, despite protests from Chip Ganassi Racing and Scott Dixon. In the end, Pagenaud was able to hold on and take victory by 0.3032 seconds, the closest finish in the history of the Grand Prix of Long Beach. It was Pagenaud's first victory while driving for Team Penske and his first win since the second race of the 2014 Grand Prix of Houston.
For only the 4th time in the history of the race, no full course caution occurred at any point and for the second year in a row, there were no DNFs.

## Report

| Key | Meaning |
| R | Rookie |
| W | Past winner |

### Qualifying

| Pos | No. | Name | Grp. | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 |
| 1 | 3 | Hélio Castroneves W | 2 | 1:07.4449 | 1:07.0645 | 1:07.1246 |
| 2 | 9 | Scott Dixon W | 1 | 1:07.5019 | 1:06.6459 | 1:07.4455 |
| 3 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | 1 | 1:07.6822 | 1:07.0578 | 1:07.7410 |
| 4 | 10 | Tony Kanaan | 2 | 1:07.5998 | 1:07.0624 | 1:07.7951 |
| 5 | 2 | Juan Pablo Montoya W | 1 | 1:07.5156 | 1:06.9409 | 1:07.9054 |
| 6 | 12 | Will Power W | 2 | 1:06.9712 | 1:06.8659 | No Time |
| 7 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | 1 | 1:07.6425 | 1:07.1415 | |
| 8 | 14 | Takuma Sato W | 1 | 1:07.7038 | 1:07.2299 | |
| 9 | 21 | Josef Newgarden | 2 | 1:07.4794 | 1:07.2548 | |
| 10 | 26 | Carlos Muñoz | 2 | 1:07.3962 | 1:07.2663 | |
| 11 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay W | 1 | 1:07.7111 | 1:07.3171 | |
| 12 | 19 | Luca Filippi | 2 | 1:07.6214 | 1:07.9660 | |
| 13 | 18 | Conor Daly R | 1 | 1:07.7520 | | |
| 14 | 11 | Sébastien Bourdais W | 2 | 1:07.6432 | | |
| 15 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | 1 | 1:07.8065 | | |
| 16 | 98 | Alexander Rossi R | 2 | 1:07.6872 | | |
| 17 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1 | 1:07.8841 | | |
| 18 | 7 | Mikhail Aleshin | 2 | 1:07.8513 | | |
| 19 | 8 | Max Chilton R | 1 | 1:08.3843 | | |
| 20 | 41 | Jack Hawksworth | 2 | 1:07.9929 | | |
| 21 | 27 | Marco Andretti | 2 | 1:08.2045 | | |
| OFFICIAL BOX SCORE |||||||

### Race results

| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Laps | Time/Retired | Pit Stops | Grid | Laps Led | Pts. |
| 1 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 80 | 1:33:54.4835 | 2 | 3 | 28 | 51 |
| 2 | 9 | Scott Dixon W | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 80 | +0.3032 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 41 |
| 3 | 3 | Hélio Castroneves W | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 80 | +10.8376 | 2 | 1 | 47 | 39 |
| 4 | 2 | Juan Pablo Montoya W | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 80 | +12.2162 | 2 | 5 | | 32 |
| 5 | 14 | Takuma Sato W | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Honda | 80 | +12.2918 | 2 | 8 | | 30 |
| 6 | 10 | Tony Kanaan | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 80 | +17.6267 | 2 | 4 | | 28 |
| 7 | 12 | Will Power W | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 80 | +18.7449 | 2 | 6 | | 26 |
| 8 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Honda | 80 | +19.0362 | 2 | 7 | | 24 |
| 9 | 11 | Sébastien Bourdais W | KVSH Racing | Chevrolet | 80 | +22.9147 | 2 | 14 | | 22 |
| 10 | 21 | Josef Newgarden | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 80 | +23.6654 | 2 | 9 | | 20 |
| 11 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 80 | +24.2179 | 3 | 15 | 3 | 20 |
| 12 | 26 | Carlos Muñoz | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 80 | +40.1250 | 2 | 10 | | 18 |
| 13 | 18 | Conor Daly R | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda | 80 | +47.1809 | 2 | 13 | | 17 |
| 14 | 8 | Max Chilton R | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 80 | +53.9106 | 3 | 19 | | 16 |
| 15 | 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 80 | +56.9082 | 2 | 17 | | 15 |
| 16 | 7 | Mikhail Aleshin | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Honda | 80 | +1:01.2966 | 2 | 18 | | 14 |
| 17 | 19 | Luca Filippi | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda | 80 | +1:08.0543 | 2 | 12 | | 13 |
| 18 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay W | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 80 | +1:30.3302 | 3 | 11 | | 12 |
| 19 | 27 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 79 | +1 Lap | 3 | 21 | | 11 |
| 20 | 98 | Alexander Rossi R | Andretti Herta Autosport | Honda | 79 | +1 Lap | 2 | 16 | | 10 |
| 21 | 41 | Jack Hawksworth | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Honda | 77 | +3 Laps | 3 | 20 | | 9 |
| OFFICIAL BOX SCORE |||||||||||

#### Notes

Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.
Source for time gaps:

## Championship standings after the race

| | Pos | Driver | Points |
| | 1 | Simon Pagenaud | 134 |
| | 2 | Scott Dixon | 120 |
| | 3 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 106 |
| 2 | 4 | Hélio Castroneves | 92 |
| | 5 | Tony Kanaan | 82 |
* Note: Only the top five positions are included.