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Grand Prix of Long Beach Race Report

"Felix drove a great race and made the most of what he had."

Arrow McLaren IndyCar logo

What started as a promising weekend took a turn in the race.

Following the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Felix Roseqnvist grabbed his first top-10 finish of the season finishing in seventh. Pato O'Ward started in the fifth position and ultimately finished P17 after spinning on Lap 26 on a restart. Alexander Rossi had a late-race incident, stopping on track and finishing 22nd.

The Arrow McLaren team will move on to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Open Test on April 20-21 before heading to the fourth race of the season at Barber Motorsport Park on April 28-30.

Race Date Sunday, April 16
Round 3 of 17
Total Laps 85 laps
Total Race Distance 167.3 miles / 269.24 km
Length 1.97 miles / 3.17 km
Number of Turns 11

Felix Rosenqvist, Driver, No. 6 onsemi Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, said:

"P7 here at Long Beach. We came from P10, so it’s a good day. It’s not a fantastic result, but we’ll take it because it brings us back in the game in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship. It was a bad day for my teammates. I felt bad for Alexander and Pato. It was a big fuel-saving race, and we got stuck a little bit in the first stint, but in the second and third we were really strong and made some good decisions. It was fun in the end, good racing and happy to be back in the points. Now, we move on to Barber."

Starting Position 10th  
Finishing Position 7th  
Championship Position 16th 44 points

Pato O'Ward, Driver, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, said:

"It's just one of those weekends. You'll have great weekends, you'll have decent ones and you'll have miserable ones. Today didn't start off too bad, but the race result is completely on me. I'm sorry to let the team down. I had a great race car. In the second half of the race, we didn't have anything to fight with because of how much we were saving fuel to make it to the end. Definitely one to forget, and on to Barber – one of my favorite places."

Starting Position 6th  
Finishing Position 17th  
Championship Position 2nd 95 points

Alexander Rossi, Driver, No. 7 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, said:

"Supremely disappointing. The car was fantastic for the race. I think we finally found what we've been missing so far this year from a performance standpoint in the warmup. It was a good race, and then what happened at two laps to go is unfortunate. Ultimately, it's really disappointing because the car was so good. The team did a great job, and we've just got to take the positives from this and move on to Barber."

Starting Position 11th  
Finishing Position 22nd  
Championship Position 15th 48 points

Gavin Ward, Racing Director, Arrow McLaren, said:

"Frustrating day for the team, a long day particularly for Pato and Alexander. Racing can be pretty cruel at times. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn, and we have a lot to learn from today. Felix drove a great race, and he made the most of what he had. It was tricky to make hay the way the cautions fell. He did a great job there. Alexander was on for a great finish until the issues on the last lap. The team needs to look into that. We don't fully understand what was going on there yet, but it's a real shame because he also had a pretty strong race pace and was making the most of what he had. Pato's race, he had a little spin there, and we were really looking strong. That first caution hurt his strategy a bit, and we kind of ran out of tires there and that put us in an awkward position on fuel save. It is what it is."