Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
• Race 2 of Verizon IndyCar Series season (April 11-13)
• 40th race in Long Beach, Calif.; fifth under INDYCAR sanction
2013: Takuma Sato became the first driver from Japan to win an Indy car race. Graham Rahal was runner-up in his best finish of the season.
Tickets and information: www.gplb.com
Twitter: @ToyotaGPLB, #GPLB40; @IndyCar, #IndyCar
Weather forecast: Mostly sunny each day with highs in low 70s
Entry list
Circuit: 1.968 miles, 11 turns
Race laps: 80 (157.4 miles)
Pit box dimensions: 40 x 15 feet
Race day fuel: 60 U.S. gallons of E85 (60 gallons for practice/qualifying)
Verizon IndyCar Series on-track times (all times local/PDT):
Friday, April 11: 10-10:45 a.m. (Practice 1)
2-2:45 p.m. (Practice 2)
Saturday, April 12: 10-10:45 a.m. (Practice 3)
2-3:10 p.m. (Qualifications, including Firestone Fast Six)
Sunday, April 13: 9-9:30 a.m. (Warm-up)
1 p.m. pre-race and NBCSN/IMS Radio Network on air; 1:50 p.m. green flag
Qualifications: Three rounds of knockout qualifying to determine the Verizon P1 Award winner and set the first three rows. Twelve cars from 10-minute Segment 1 (six quickest from Groups 1 and 2) advance to 10-minute Segment 2. Top six advance to 10-minute Firestone Fast Six session to determine Verizon P1 Award.
Start: First standing start of the season and the first at Long Beach since 2008. More info on procedure
TV: NBCSN telecasts qualifications (3-4 p.m. PDT, April 12) and the race (1-4 p.m. PDT, April 13). Leigh Diffey is the chief announcer. … Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires race telecast on NBCSN (11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. PDT, April 13).
Radio/web: All Verizon IndyCar Series and Indy Lights sessions are on IMS Radio Network in conjunction with real-time Timing & Scoring on www.indycar.com and INDYCAR 14 app. Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach race broadcast on IMS Radio Network affiliates, www.indycar.com, INDYCAR 14 app and Sirius 209 and XM 209. Paul Page is the chief announcer for Verizon IndyCar Series; Mark Jaynes for Indy Lights.
He said it: "Long Beach ranks No. 2 on my win list next to the Indianapolis 50-0 because of my family's history there," said Marco Andretti, whose grandfather, Mario, won four times at Long Beach, and his father, Michael, won twice.
Of note: A Verizon IndyCar Series autograph session is scheduled from 4-5 p.m. April 11 at the respective teams' transporters. … Firestone will award $10,000 to the entrant of the car in pit lane the shortest amount of accumulated time during the race. The car must complete 95 percent of the race laps to be eligible. The No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car driven by Scott Dixon earned the Firestone Pit Stop Performance Award at St. Petersburg. … Sunoco will present $5,000 to the entrant of the driver who completes the fastest lap of the race. Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car posted the quickest race lap (1 minute, 2.3404 seconds) on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn St. Petersburg temporary street course. … Power won the race in 2008 and 2012 – bookends to earning the pole in 2009-11 (in which he finished second, third and 10th). … Since the first Indy car race in 1984 at Long Beach, the eight drivers have won the race and the season championship in the same year. Dario Franchitti in 2009 is the most recent. … Since 1994, six drivers have won the second race of the season and gone on to win the championship. Sebastien Bourdais in 2007 is the most recent. ... Mario Andretti is the grand marshal for the Verizon IndyCar Series race. ... Bronze medal-winning paralympic snowboarder and “Dancing with the Stars” contestant Amy Purdy will be the grand marshal of the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race on April 12. Brian McKnight will perform the national anthem.