Race Report, Verizon IndyCar Series, Grand Prix of Long Beach

Today’s 80-lap race from the temporary street circuit in Long Beach, CA saw only four laps of yellow flag conditions changing up strategies throughout the field. Third-generation racer Marco Andretti topped the Honda roster with an eighth-place finish, his 76th career top-10 finish. Teammate Carlos Munoz took the twin checkers next in the ninth position, his 10th Verizon IndyCar Series top-10 finish. The 28 team had an out-of-character day and recorded a 13th-place result for Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Join us at Barber Motorsports Park next weekend by following along on Twitter – @FollowAndretti – or tuning in to the live broadcast next Sunday on NBC Sports Network at 3:00 p.m. ET.

MARCO ANDRETTI
NO. 27 MERCHANT FIRST / SNAPPLE HONDA
“Always nice to be in the top 10, but it’s a bit frustrating because we are sort of maximizing what we are dealt. I can see if we made mistakes and ended up eighth then fine, but I’m not sure that we could have done better today. It will take a bit more development on everything and we’ll work for more in Barber next week.”

CARLOS MUNOZ
NO. 26 ANDRETTITV / CINSAY HONDA
“Today wasn’t frustrating at all. The (aero) package we have right now is what we have. The other (aero) package seems to be better right now, but we are working hard. We started 12th, and I think the main goal was to finish in the top 10, and we did it; I’m happy with that. Our Honda engine is really good and we improved from last year, so now that today is done, we move on to Barber.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY
NO. 28 DHL HONDA
“Today was a big disappointment for us, probably one of the worst races we’ve had from green to checkered. I had a car I couldn’t drive hard when I needed to, the strategy we went for didn’t work out, our pit stops did not really work out … nothing really worked out for us today. I guess sometimes you have those days in racing, but they’re certainly not days we ever want to be accustomed to having. We’ll regroup and move on to Barber.”
Indy Lights Race Report: Grand Prix of Long Beach

SHELBY BLACKSTOCK
NO. 51 STARSTRUCK MAZDA
Former SoCal resident captured a top-10 finish today on the streets of Long Beach
“I don’t know what to say, really. We have a lot of work to do and we definitely need to go back to the drawing board before we get to Barber. It’s been a frustrating weekend, for sure, but a big thank you to the Andretti Autosport guys for working hard and getting through this weekend together.”

MATT BRABHAM
NO. 83 STELLRECHT COMPANY
ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT MAZDA
Two-time Mazda Road to Indy champion encountered gearbox problems on Lap 7 which caused his early retirement from the 42-lap race
“We had a reasonably good start and managed to capitalize on some people crashing in the first corner; I managed to avoid the accident and get up to sixth — so that was good. Just unfortunate; we had an issue with shifting and I lost a whole bunch of gears and couldn’t continue, so my race ended only a few laps into the race. I’m just disappointed for the Andretti Autosport guys. I would like to have had a strong race and been out there the whole time battling, but it’s just the way it goes sometimes. These factors are out of our control so we’ll just keep pushing and working hard, and hopefully we can keep stepping forward and forward and moving forward and get there eventually. Thanks to Bob Stellrecht for believing in me and supporting in me this weekend, they’ve been a big help and it’s a shame it worked out the way it did, but big props to those guys. I’m grateful for everything they’ve done for me and that Andretti has done for me.”