Andretti Autosport – Verizon IndyCar Series. Race Report. Grand Prix of Long Beach

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From start to checkered, today’s Grand Prix of Long Beach saw nothing but green flags and blue skies for 80 solid laps of racing.

A top-of-the-field finish wasn’t in the cards for the Andretti quartette today, and the team now packs up and heads east for Round 4 of competition at the scenic Barber Motorsports Parks in just a week’s time.

The Honda Grand Prix of Alabama starts  April 24 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network. Until then, get your racing fix at AndrettiAutosport.com and via Twitter with @FollowAndretti.

Ryan Hunter-Reay
No. 28 DHL Honda

  • Started from 11th on the 1.968-mile track and quickly gained position working his way to ninth in the opening laps
  • Battling fuel conservation and handling all day, the 2012 series champion finished 18th

“We really missed it this weekend – in a big way. We have a ride compliance issue where we just don’t have enough grip. In the race I found myself just racing myself; just trying to keep the car off the wall, that was the main exercise all day. Barber is a nice, smooth road course and we had a good test there so hopefully next week will look better for the DHL team.”

Carlos Muñoz
No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda

  • Took the green flag from the 10th position on the track where he earned his first career podium two seasons ago
  • Once shown as high as seventh before settling into a 12th-place finish, battling a broken wing for the entirety of the race

“A really disappointing race. I ran the whole race with a broken wing, that didn’t help. It’s kind of weird, we saw some cars that we didn’t think were going to make it through the last lap on fuel, but they did. I don’t know what we’re doing. We’ll have to have a look at our car. I am a bit disappointed in 12th, we will see where we’ll go. I don’t know what to think about Barber (Motorsports Park), but here we were not strong at all. ”
Marco Andretti
No. 27 United Fiber & Data / Snapple Honda

  • Suffered a stuck throttle sensor issue on Lap 1 resulting in the loss of valuable time and position
  • Was forced to pit for fuel with just a few laps left in the 80 lap race, recording a 19th-place finish

“The stuck throttle sensor really ruined the day for us. I came up to the green (flag) and I had no power, the car just shut down and that was that. From there we were never able to gain enough ground to get back in the mix. The guys did a good job in the pits, the car had good pace but the day was too far gone.”

Alexander Rossi
No. 98 Castrol Edge/Curb Honda

  • Was seen as high as 11th after starting from the 16th position and showed consistent, competitive pace
  • Experienced lost track time when the No. 98 stalled and struggled to restart during the second and final pit stop of the day, recorded a 20th-place result

“Super frustrating. The result for all of us (Andretti Autosport) was not good and we need to work hard the next couple days prior to Barber. On my side, I think we were much more competitive than we were in St. Pete. Unfortunately, we had a stall on the second stop and the car wouldn’t re-fire so that kind of ruined our race. I think compared to the other cars we were much more competitive on the 98 side, but still we’re missing something as a group that we need to find out as soon as possible.”