IndyCar: Canapino was leading at Long Beach but hit a wall and finished 25th

A day of strong emotions experienced Agostino Canapino In his third performance at the Indycar. The arrecifeño, who is racing his first season in the American single-seater category with a team car Hollinger Racing rushestook the lead in Sunday’s race at the Long Beach Street Circuit, but finished 25th after colliding with one of the retaining walls.

The victory went to the American Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport), climbed to the top step of the podium escorted by the French and former Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean (from the same team) and the Swede marcus ericson (Chip Ganassi Racing), new championship leader.

Canapino started from 26th position and quickly moved up one position, behind his teammate, the Briton Callum Ilotthe suffered a broken front right tire and was forced to pit.

When 20 laps were completed, a crash between O’Ward duck AND Scott Dixon -the Mexican touched the car of the New Zealander and sent it into the barriers in turn 8- he changed the fate of the reef.

Is that with the race neutralized, the vast majority of cars entered the pits; but the Argentine stayed on track and when the competition resumed four laps later, he led the field.

He was thus in the lead for one and a half laps, between 24 and 25, which allowed him to secure one more point than those obtained later for his position on the final grid (six in total).

But when it seemed he would settle in first place, after keeping a good pace at the restart, he found teammate Ilott, who had just returned to the track and spun among the latecomers, trying to make up the lap. And the British ended up unintentionally annoying Canapino.

Seeing that the four-time champion of the Road tourism it was complicated, the Brazilian Elio Castroneveswho was behind him, tried to pass him, grazed him and caused the car coming over the cliff to crash into the wall.

“Unfortunately I lost a lot of time behind Callum when he came out of the pits. Then Helio tried to pass me and there was a slight scratch that made him hit the wall, he broke the front left tyre. Too bad because we had a good car, but it was bad luck, that’s how racing is,” commented the titan.

All the same, the Argentine hasn’t given up. He rejoined the track on lap 57, with the main aim of gaining experience in a category in which he is just taking his first steps, finishing in 25th place.

With the six points collected in the Californian circuit, Canapino is 18th in the championship, with 42 units. Ericsson leads with 110, followed by O’Ward, of Arrow McLaren, with 95; and the Spanish Alex Poleby Chip Ganassi Racing, with 91.

The next round of IndyCar will be held on April 30 at Barbershop motorsports park Birmingham, Alabama. This circuit, one of the most physically demanding in the category due to the G-force it generates, is familiar territory for the man from Reef, who tested there in March, between the first and second races of the championship .