Honda power dominated the first half of the 2014 Toyota Grand Prix at Long Beach, only to be sidelined by a major fender bender. HPD, Simon Pagenaud and Schmidt Motorsports is not happy about it.
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Although 6 HPD Honda twin turbo V6 powered Dallara Indy Cars finished in the top 10 at Long Beach, Chevy power won out the day as Pagenauds and other’s cried fowl.
The 40th annual Long Beach Grand Prix proved to be a tough day for Honda as an accident took out the top 3 contenders, all running Honda Performance Hardware. None the less, 6 of the top 10 finishers drove Honda powered, Italian designed Dallara Indy Cars.
A perfect weather day for racing, clear skies, sunny and mild temperatures lead to average track speeds of 82.32 mph , 1 mph off of last year’s pace.
Last year’s winner Takuma Sato of A.J. Foyt Racing Honda, along with the early race front runners were taken out in a crash. That’s street racing at its highest level.
“Our day was ruined by Will Power,” said Simon Pagenaud of Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Racing. The driver of the # 77 car had a tough day in Long Beach, recovering from an on-track collision, Pagenaud came from the back of the pack to finish 6th. We assume that looking at the pole positioning, Frenchman Pagenaud anticipated a relatively easy win at Long Beach.
Simon is currently ranked 3rd in the 18 race series, with Scott Dixon in 6th place and Munoz in 7th.
Despite a day of accidents, caution delays and a miscalculation or two as to fuel consumption, IndyCar rookie Carlos Munoz of Andretti Autosports, took the Podium for 3rd place.
5,6,7,8 and 10 place finishers were powered by Honda Performance Development. However, Chevrolet powered the 1rst and 2nd place winners, thus taking the lead in the driver and manufacture championship for the series.
Honda drivers won Long Beach last year and look forward to dominating Laguna Seca in race # 3 of the 18 race series. See you then.
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