New Zealander’s Scott Dixon and Marcus Armstrong are both hungry for success ahead of this weekend’s IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The event sees the Kiwi Chip Ganassi Racing duo return to action with the aim of delivering the team their seventh victory on the Californian street track.
Dixon has experienced success on the track before, with victory in 2015, second place in 2016, and third in 2021, and he says he is looking forward to the weekend ahead.
“I’m definitely excited for Long Beach race weekend. We’ve had some ups and downs there as a team, but it’s at the top of the list as far as places you want to win at,” says Dixon. “Luckily, we’ve been at that spot but once you win it, the desire to repeat grows even stronger.
“I think we’ve had really good cars, and the car at St. Pete was even much improved from the season before. It’s all out and we’re going to go for a strong qualifying and hopefully, we’ll be in a position to challenge for the race win. I’m sure all four Ganassi cars are going to be very strong.”
Dixon has started off his 2023 season in sublime form, finishing on the podium in the season-opener at St. Petersburg before his fifth-placed result at Texas Motor Speedway.
Street courses are an area of strength for the Kiwi great, who has finished in the top 10 in 19 of the 21 street course races over the past five years. His average finishing position on such tracks is 4.8, unrivalled by any other IndyCar driver.
It’s a complete contrast for Armstrong, CGR’s youngest racer, as he looks to build into a promising career. Armstrong charged to 11th in St. Petersburg after suffering an early puncture. He’s only running road and street courses this year, meaning he didn’t compete at Texas.
Despite his green ears, Long Beach is a circuit Armstrong is familiar with, which dates back to his schooling days.
“I’ve been looking forward to racing here for quite some time,” he says. “It was one of the races that was circled on my imaginary calendar as a race I was really looking forward to.
“It’s an iconic race, obviously, and I remember thinking about racing here when I was in math class back in school. I was in class then searching for visor camera on-boards. Now, I’m headed there to race this weekend in the American Legion Honda. I’m still watching the same on-boards I was watching as a kid, and it is going to be a fun experience.
“I just want to hit the ground running like we did in St. Pete, maximize our performance and get into a good rhythm. I know the Chip Ganassi Racing package is going to be fantastic, as always. It’s just going to be up to me to drive the wheels off it.”
The IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach takes place this Monday at 7 am (NZ Time) and will be shown live on Sky Sports 5.
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