Josef Newgarden withstood pressure from Álex Palou and Romain Grosjean to win the Grand Prix of Long Beach, after pole sitter Colton Herta crashed out of the race that he’d led early on.
Newgarden’s brace of victories also takes him to the top of the championship standings after three races, as his Penske team mate Scott McLaughlin struggled to a 14th place finish.
Herta led the 26-car field from the first lap, aiming for back-to-back Long Beach victories. The first full-course caution came on lap six, when Dalton Kellett locked up his tyres and slammed into the concrete barrier at turn one. Kellett was just the first of a number of drivers that would crash out of the race over the course of the day: Rookies Devlin DeFrancesco and Callum Ilott also had race-ending contacts with the wall which knocked them out of the race.
The lead changed hands after the first cycle of pit stops. Palou made his first stop on lap 27, and he was able to undercut both Herta and Newgarden to take the…