The Long Beach urban circuit is definitely doing well for him: for the second consecutive year, Romain Grosjean finished 2nd in the Grand Prix in the suburbs of Los Angeles, not far from the Pacific Ocean, to clinch his fifth podium in IndyCar.
Starting in third position on the grid, Grosjean, 37, played the leading roles during the 85 laps of the third race of the season, without however ever being able to take the lead, nor wanting to compromise the victory of his American teammate at Andretti, Kyle Kirkwood.
Second less than a second behind the winner of the day, the former Formula 1 driver, who arrived in IndyCar in 2021 after having competed in 179 Grands Prix in the premier category with Renault, Lotus and Haas (from 2009 to 2020), conceded no bitterness.
“I didn’t look to overtake Kyle, I didn’t look for the win, I just avoided problems, and we did what we had to do,” he explained, with a big smile.
“It is important for the team to have the first two places. I would have liked the order to be reversed, but Kyle deserves his victory, because he had a good race, “said the Franco-Swiss.
The boss of his team Michael Andretti did not fail to congratulate him and thank him for having carried out a “very intelligent race”.
This podium allows him to forget a disappointing start to the championship.
Starting from pole position in the first Grand Prix of the season, in St. Petersburg (Florida), he had to settle for 18th place after being the victim of a collision. At the beginning of April, on the oval circuit of Fort Worth (Texas), he ranked 14th after hitting the protective wall two laps from the finish, when he was in the top 5. “It was important to score big points and finish the race”, recognized Grosjean, who is in 7th place in the IndyCar Championship.
“At St. Pete (for the first Grand Prix of the season, editor’s note), I should have won, but that’s what sometimes happens in motor racing, the most important thing is to move forward,” he said. insisted.
His first victory in IndyCar only seems a matter of time: “I have confidence in the car”, declared Grosjean who, in 2022, for his first season with Andretti, one of the flagship teams of the championship, finished in a disappointing 13th place.
His first success, he could win at the Alabama Grand Prix on April 30, for his 34th IndyCar race, or on May 13, at the Indianapolis Grand Prix, which takes parts of the famous 500-mile circuit. .
The Indianapolis Grand Prix is also very successful for him: he finished 2nd in the 2021 edition, his first podium in IndyCar, just six months after having “seen death too closely”, during a terrible accident at the Grand Bahrain Prize of F1, which he had left with both hands burned.
