----LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Sam Schmidt was watching two of his team’s drivers duel for the lead -- with a third less than a second behind -- anticipating a team trifecta in the 45-lap Firestone Indy Lights race on the Long Beach street circuit.
But there were still five laps remaining for Josef Newgarden, and suddenly the celebration was mixed with the team owner – a former IndyCar driver -- offering consolation to the young driver from Tennessee.
Newgarden was leading the race and Conor Daly's No. 77 Mazda Road to Indy/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car by 1.1342 seconds on Lap 41 -- looking for his second victory of the young season from the third starting position -- when the No. 11 Robo-Pong/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car's nose piled into the Turn 8 tire barrier.
The incident created a full-course caution, and Daly went on to take the checkered flag under caution. “This is probably the toughest moment I have had in my career,” said Newgarden, who was credited with 13th place. “It is not something you can plan for. It is certainly the first time this has happened to me and it isn’t a fun feeling to have. I think I just caught the drain ditch and it popped me up on the ground. I hadn’t hit it all weekend, so it caught me off-guard when it happened.
“It just caught the front end up and it was very difficult to save it. It is too bad for all the guys. I thought we were going to have a great weekend here and it is unfortunate that it finished the way it did. There is a long season ahead of us and I am anxious to test on an oval this week (at Las Vegas Motor Speedway).
Daly became the third first-time winner in as many races this season and grabbed the series points lead. But it will be short-lived as Daly is committed to the GP3 schedule he’ll run, starting in early May, with his next Firestone Indy Lights race scheduled for mid-August in Quebec. In fact, Daly missed the initial practice session of the weekend because of travel back from testing in Spain.
“I wish I could have run the first session but just missed it,” said Daly, whose father won the 2000 Pro category of the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn circuit. “The car was fantastic again and that made it just a little bit easier to kind of jump in and find the limit.
“The whole race I was really just learning the track still. I kind of saw a few things Josef was doing and my car was really consistent through the whole race, so I was able to find little bits here and there and just be able to start putting quicker and quicker laps together.
“Unfortunately, he went off and it was tough to see that when Sam Schmidt Motorsports was in that position for one, two, three, but I'll take it.”
Newgarden’s incident was similar to the one involving race leader Peter Dempsey in Turn 9 of Lap 10, which profited Newgarden. “We were leading with three Sam Schmidt Motorsports cars behind me and pulling away comfortably and pushing the limit to be there,” Dempsey said. “Unfortunately, I just made my first mistake of the season at the most unfortunate time.”
Esteban Guerrieri, the pole sitter in the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, finished second. Stefan Wilson, who started sixth in the No. 5 Andretti Autosport car, grabbed his second consecutive podium finish. Gustavo Yacaman was a season-high fourth in the No. 2 TMR-Tuvacol-Xtreme Coil Drilling car.
James Winslow, who had a pair of 10th-place finishes, advanced five positions to finish fifth in the No. 26 Andretti Autosport entry. Victor Carbone, driving the No. 3 Nevoni/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, posted a season-high sixth place (also moving up five positions). "We had a front-row car but after my mistake in qualifying yesterday, we started 10th and just had to pick up places,” Winslow said. “We ran a bit too much downforce and weren't able to overtake anyone in a straight line. I'm fairly happy with today, but a podium would have been that much better."
Top-10 from the Beach.............
1} Conor Daly, Sam Schmidt Mtrspts., 43 laps
2} Esteban Guerrieri, Sam Schmidt Mtrspts., -0.930 sec
3} Stefan Wilson, Andretti Autosport, -1.388 sec
4} Gustavo Yacaman, Team Moore Racing, -1.805 sec
5} James Winslow, Andretti Autosport, -2.011 sec
6} Victor Carbone, Sam Schmidt Mtrspts., -2.670 sec
7} Mikael Grenier, O2 Racing Tech., -4.044 sec
8} Anders Krohn, Belardi Auto Racing, -5.473 sec
9} David Ostella, Jensen Mtrspts., -6.960 sec
10} Jorge Goncalves, Belardi Auto Racing, -7.743 sec