Mike Conway came through an incident packed race to lead Will Power home for his second Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach victory.
The Brit, only hired to compete in IndyCar’s street/road events by Ed Carpenter, stayed out of trouble to win the 40th running of the iconic event after starting from a lowly 17th on the grid.
New Zealand’s Scott Dixon appeared to have done enough to take victory but the Ganassi driver was forced to pit for fuel with two laps remaining which handed Conway the win.
Power, who endured a disappointing qualifying, came from 14th on the grid to follow Conway over the finish line with Carlos Munoz in third.
Ryan Hunter-Reay made strong start from pole to lead the field into the first corner.
Sebastien Bourdais slotted into second with James Hinchcliffe third and Simon Pagenaud in fourth.
The poleman built a comfortable 3.2s lead before Bourdais brought out the first caution when he hit the barriers at turn 8 on lap 33.
On the restart, Hunter-Reay continued to lead from Hinchcliffe before Bourdais brought out the yellow flags again after burying his car deep in the barriers this time.
Hinchcliffe pushed Hunter-Reay hard when racing resumed while Power applied pressure on Newgarden in third.
The next round of pit stops proved crucial as Newgarden emerged from the pits in the lead and ahead of Hunter-Reay.
The 2012 IndyCar champion immediately tried to pass Newgarden but a misjudged move sent them both into the barriers.
Hinchcliffe was left with no where to go and joined the pair along with Tony Kanaan, Takuma Sato and Jack Hawkswoth.
However, Dixon, Power and Conway, who had made good progress during the race, managed to find a way through the carnage to inherit the top three positions.
Conway managed to pass Power on the restart and he soon latched on to the back of leader Dixon.
A caution for a spinning Graham Rahal gave Dixon, who was quickly running out of fuel a reprieve.
But it wasn’t enough as Dixon was forced to pit from the lead for fuel allowing Conway the chance to take the chequered flag for the second time at Long Beach.
Power boosted his championship lead by coming home in second ahead of Munoz.
Australian Ryan Briscoe finished 20 laps down in 17th spot after his Chip Ganassi entry suffered from engine issues.
See below for full result
1 | Mike Conway | Carpenter/Chevy | 1:54.41.6418 |
2 | Will Power | Penske/Chevy | +0.9005 |
3 | Carlos Munoz | Andretti/Honda | 1.5591 |
4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Penske/Chevy | 2.0226 |
5 | Simon Pagenaud | Schmidt/Honda | 2.8169 |
6 | Mikhail Aleshin | Schmidt/Honda | 3.8574 |
7 | Oriol Servia | Rahal/Honda | 4.9621 |
8 | Marco Andretti | Andretti/Honda | 8.1948 |
9 | Sebastian Saavedra | KV/Chevy | 8.9029 |
10 | Carlos Huertas | Coyne/Honda | 24.2295 |
11 | Helio Castroneves | Penske/Chevy | 30.0552 |
12 | Scott Dixon | Ganassi/Chevy | 30.7310 |
13 | Graham Rahal | Rahal/Honda | +1 lap |
14 | Sebastien Bourdais | KV/Chevy | +3 laps |
15 | Jack Hawksworth | Herta/Honda | +3 laps |
16 | Justin Wilson | Coyne/Honda | 64 laps |
17 | Ryan Briscoe | Ganassi/Chevy | 60 laps |
18 | Tony Kanaan | Ganassi/Chevy | 55 laps |
19 | Josef Newgarden | Fisher/Honda | 55 laps |
20 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti/Honda | 55 laps |
21 | James Hinchcliffe | Andretti/Honda | 55 laps |
22 | Takuma Sato | Foyt/Honda | 55 laps |
23 | Charlie Kimball | Ganassi/Chevy | 41 laps |
Standings after two rounds
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