Grand Prix: Hinchcliffe Waltzes to Victory Lane

La La Land won the Academy Award for best picture, and on Sunday in Long Beach, James Hinchcliffe won an amazing L.A. story. The breakout performer on “Dancing With the Stars” during the off-season, Hinchcliffe waltzed to the checkered flag at the 43rd running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Coming out of the hairpin on the Lap 82 restart, Hinchcliffe promptly bolted away from St. Petersburg winner Sebastien Bourdais and beat the Frenchman by 1.4 seconds in the 85-lap race, giving owners Sam Schmidt and Ric Petersen their sixth victory in 17 years of Verizon Indycar Series competition.

The race around the iconic 11-turn 1.968 street venue was extended five laps this season, and teams had to choose whether to adopt a two-stop or three-stop strategy. Hinchcliffe did it in two stops, one fewer than his 15 closest competitors.

It was the fifth career victory for Hinchcliffe, matching fellow Canadians Jacques Villeneuve, Patrick Carpentier and the late Greg Moore, who died in a crash at Fontana in 1999.

“Greg Moore was a huge inspiration to me,” Hinchcliffe said. “To draw level with these guys is incredible.”

Hinchcliffe said that since his appearance on DWTS, Los Angeles has “almost become my second American home.” With several cast members on hand and an audience that knows his story – he was nearly killed during practice for the 2015 Indianapolis 500 – many thought his winning the pole for the 2016 Indy 500 completed his comeback.

Not even close.

“This does feel different,” Hinchcliffe said of getting a victory for the first time since his near-death experience. “It's good to get back in the winner's circle.”

Hinchcliffe finished runner-up on Dancing With the Stars, but he said Sunday that “I would trade a Mirror Ball for a win at Long Beach any day.”

“The greats have all raced here, the greats have all won here,” Hinchcliffe said. “This is the Indy 500 of street circuits. … They put your face in the ground – who wouldn't want that?”

Hinchcliffe can bank on getting his bronze mug enshrined in the race's winner's circle after winning for the first time since 2015 in New Orleans, a wet race that took place mostly under yellow flag conditions with an average speed of only 72 mph. “I probably celebrated too much for a guy who pitted on Lap 13 and won a race somehow,” he quipped. About a month later was the practice crash that nearly killed him.

But the self-ascribed mayor of Hinchtown's victory on the streets of Long Beach put an exclamation on the comeback and his injury firmly in the rearview mirror.

“I can't even pretend to know what he went through,” said Bourdais, a three-time winner at Long Beach. “He's a fierce competitor. Nobody knows how you're going to react to almost dying in a race car. … It's great to see him do so well.”

Josef Newgarden, in his second race for owner Roger Penske, finished third to break up a Honda sweep of the podium. Scott Dixon was fourth in Chip Ganassi's Honda and defending champion Simon Pagenaud was fifth in Penske's Chevy after starting the race in last place. By Lap 10, Pagenaud had already passed his way to 10th place.

Through two races, Bourdais leads Hinchcliffe by 19 points for the series championship. Pagenaud (-22 points) is third, Scott Dixon (-23) fourth and Newgarden (-34) fifth.

Bourdais, whose last-to-first- victory at St. Pete gave car owner Dale Coyne his first-ever lead in the series in 31 years of racing, was nearly last to first again. He started 12th, but fell to 20th among 21 cars after contact on Lap 1 after damage to his rear wing from contact between Will Power and Southern Californian Charlie Kimball. Bourdais was on a two-stop strategy, though getting his rear wing assembly changed gave him a third stop and a smidge more fuel.

Kimball was knocked out of the race; he finished 21st and has failed to complete a lap through two races for owner Chip Ganassi. Power finished 13th, a lap down.

The field benefited from mechanical goblins that affected Andretti Autosport's Hondas, which appeared to be among Hinchcliffe's biggest challengers. Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi was in third place when he lost Honda power on Lap 62. At the time, Hinchcliffe was running second to Dixon. Hinchcliffe assumed the lead when Dixon, who started on a two-stop strategy and switched to three stops mid-race, ducked into the pits; Hinchcliffe led the rest of the way.

“That was always the plan,” Dixon said of the two-stop strategy that helped him lead a race-high 32 laps but was abandoned. “We gave the race away at that point.”

It might have been the second victory for Dixon if not for fate; he was leading at St. Pete but got caught out on a yellow flag while leading and finished third in a Ganassi Honda, the team's first race after switching from Chevy.

Rossi teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay was running second to Hinchcliffe when he suffered an apparent electrical issue on Lap 79, spoiling what was likely to be a podium finish. It turned out to be a disastrous day for team owner Michael Andretti; his drivers were fast all weekend, but finished at the bottom of the grid: RHR (started 3rd, finished 17th), Takuma Sato (18th, 18th), Rossi (5th, 19th) and Marco Andretti (10th, 20th).

“It really hurts that close to the end,” 2014 race winner Hunter-Reay said of the car suddenly losing power. “The sport can be so rewarding and so cruel.”

It has been rewarding thus far for Dale Coyne Racing. After two races, Bourdais holds a 19-point lead over Hinchcliffe. Coyne rookie Ed Jones, who finished 10th in the season opener for Coyne, took sixth at Long Beach and has been perhaps the biggest surprise of the season; he is seventh in the standings, three points behind Penskie stalwart Helio Castroneves.

Following Jones to complete the top 10 were Carlos Munoz for owner AJ Foyt, rookie Spencer Pigot for Ed Carpenter Racing, Castroneves, and Graham Rahal for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

The ever-popular Castroneves – who actually won the Mirror Ball Trophy on Dancing With the Stars – started from the pole but was passed by five cars on the first lap. He was later given a drive-through penalty, and was also sent to the back of the lead lap, for pit speed violations.

J.R. Hildebrand suffered a broken hand following a last-lap crash with Russian driver Mikhail Aleshin, who was penalized a position. Hildebrand was 11th, Aleshin 12th.