LBGP Notes: Di Silvestro Tied with Power

Updated with Indycar and other notes.

The only way to describe the Long Beach 100 is one of attrition.

The Firestone Indy Lights contest preceded the IndyCar race on Sunday at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, and getting a top five finish was as easy not hitting a wall.

Carlos Munoz of Columbia, who won last year's season finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, won his second race of the season for Andretti Autosport in the feeder series. It was scheduled for one hour or 45 laps, but with a couple of yellow flags, the 10-car field raced for one hour.

It wasn't a 10-car field for long.

Three cars were knocked out between the green flag and Turn 1 on Shoreline Drive. Front row starter Jack Hawksworth pinched Zach Veach into the wall, and when they spun across the track they took out Peter Dempsey. Respectively, that group qualified second, third and fourth.

"I felt that we were going to get (Hawksworth) going into Turn 1," said Veach, a rookie from Stockdale, Ohio. "I kept gaining on him and he kept trying to muscle me to the wall. At that point I was to a spot that I couldn't lift. I was to the wall so I gave him as much room as I absolutely could."

When they restarted on Lap 11, Munoz, Juan Pablo Garcia and Gabby Chaves started 1-2-3, but Mikael Grenier spun in Turn 1 and Garcia went into the wall to avoid hitting Garcia. Garcia and Grenier, who are Team Moore teammates, qualified sixth and seventh.

During the first yellow flag period, Matthew DiLeo encountered problems and stalled on the track. Though he was able to restart, he lost a lap and became irrelevant for the victory. He had qualified ninth.

That allowed Munoz to cruise to the victory ahead of fellow countryman Gabby Chaves, who qualified fifth, and Sage Karam, 18, who started last among the 10 drivers. Karam, from Nazareth, Pa., was one of two Americans in the race.

Munoz's margin of victory in the 41-lap race was 2.2 seconds over Chaves and 18.1 over Karam. Jorge Goncalves, who started eighth, finished fourth and Di Leo was fifth despite being a lap down.

Munoz leads the championship by 17 points.

"He didn't put a wheel wrong all weekend, fastest in every session ... really proud of him," team owner Michael Andretti said of Munoz.

None of the top three finishers was 21 years old, so they were not given champagne during the podium presentation.

Sato leads final practice

Takuma Sato led the last practice before the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Josef Newgarden, who started on the front row last year, and E.J. Viso were second and third fastest. For the race, they fourth, 16th and 10th.

Off-Road on Track

Robby Gordon's Stadium Super Trucks series put on an exhibition Sunday on the course before the IndyCar race. Essentially a grandchild of the old, and popular, Mickey Thompson Stadium Series, the off-road trucks race on dirt layouts inside large stadiums.

Two of the drivers in the series are former Southern California open wheel racers, Gordon and P.J. Jones, both of whom raced in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Orange native Gordon raced for a few teams, including his own, and Jones raced for Dan Gurney's Santa Ana-based All-American Racers.

Could this catch on?

Dakota Meyer, a medal of honor winner who is th grand marshal this weekend, gave the command to start engines. But Meyer went off script. He didn't say the traditional "Drivers, start your engines!"

Instead, he offered this unique take: "Drivers, fire those things up!"

At least he's honest

Justin Wilson, who has given Dale Coyne Racing both of its victories in 654 starts dating back to 1986, finished third for small budget team owner. After his team sent his car through tech inspection with a rear wing that didn't pass muster, Wilson didn't even get a chance to qualify.

Wilson started 24th instead of 27th only because of penalties assessed against other drivers, but he fashioned a third-place finish that surprised even him.  As a podium finisher, he attended the winners' press conference.

"I'm still a little confused why I'm here," Wilson said, eliciting laughter from the media. "I figured if we got in the top 12, top 10 on the outside chance, that would be a great day."

The long and short of it

Graham Rahal, who finished second to Takuma Sato, was sitting with Wilson on the dais when he was told that it had been 10 years since a driver for Penske, Ganassi or Andretti had not been on the podium.

Rahal didn't miss a beat.

"Probably been a while since two guys over 6-feet-2 have been on the podium," he said. "And a 5-1 guy."

Wilson is 6-3 1/2 and 193 pounds. Rahal is 6-2 and 175 pounds.

Sato is 5-4 and 117 pounds.

Rise of the little guys

Among the top 10 drivers, three were from the stables of Ganassi, Penske or Andretti. Wilson and Rahal both thought days like Sunday—in which the smaller teams show their presence—could become more prevalent.

"Look, I left Ganassi Racing (after last season) and I left for a reason," Rahal said. "I felt like this team could be as good and competitive as any. We're just starting. ... I think you're seeing that it's so competitive right now that obviously those three teams made a little slip this weekend and we're all here to jump in."

Wilson agreed.

"Just because you're driving in one of the perceived top tier teams doesn't guarantee you to be in the top six every weekend," he said. "You have to work at it. A mistake is going to cost you, as it should."

Who needs a playoff

The Boston Marketing Group told the IndyCar Series that it should incorporate a three-race playoff into the series, but the last six championships have been decided in the last race.

Through three of 19 races, five drivers are within 20 points points (a 10th-place finish) atop the standings, and none of them are 2012 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, four-time champion Dario Franchitti or perennial favorite Will Power.

Helio Castroneves, who has won three Indy 500s and one "Dancing With the Stars," has never won an Indycar title but leads with 99 points. Behind him are Sato (-6), Dixon (-10), Marco Andretti (-12) and Wilson (-18).

Rounding out the top 10 are Hunter-Reay (-26), Rahal (-33), Power (-37), Simona de Silvestro (-37) and James Hinchcliffe (-38).

That's right, de Silvestro—who trudged through 2012 with the sole Lotus engine—is tied with Power, who led the championship going into the last race.

Pirelli World Challenge

The racing wasn't done after the IndyCar Series race. The Pirelli World Challenge was contested and won by local driver James Sofronas of Villa Park in an Audi R8 in the GT class; he also took the overall victory, finishing ahead of Andy Pilgrim and Mike Skeen.

Sofronas started from the pole but lost it early. He remained near the front and benefited from some unfortunate luck on the part of the leaders. On Lap 27 of 31, Alex Figge hit the Turn 1 wall after a mechanical issue.

Figge's misfortune gave the lead to Johnny O'Connell, who needed to complete the last two laps under caution to take the checkered flag, but his Cadillac CTS-V.R began smoking as it approached the white flag. By Turn 5, O'Connell's Caddy was at a standstill, and Sofronas led the field through the last six turns for the victory.

O'Connell's radiator had a piece of steel lodge in it, probably from Figge's crash of his Volvo S60.

Lawson Aschenbach won the GTS class in a Camaro, ahead of Peter Cunningham's Acura TSX and Jack Baldwin's Porsche Cayman S.