IndyCar: 2019 Grand Prix of Long Beach

[Paul Jeffrey]

Welcome to the central discussion thread for the 2019 IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach.

IndyCar 2019 style is turning into a rather spectacular season of racing, and hot off the heels of the recent Grand Prix of Alabama comes another iconic stop on the calendar - Long Beach!

A big win last time out for Takuma Sato, can the Japanese keep up his impressive run of form in recent events (two wins in six races), or will one of the established favourites pick the pace back up again on this difficult track?

Three races, three winners, three epic events. IndyCar 2019 is certainly showing signs of becoming something of a classic season of open wheel racing...

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[Tom Blackett]

Watched a couple of races this year, Barber is such a beautiful track last week and Long Beach this week i will certainly be tuning in again.

 

[farjam]

It's gonna be a great weekend for Motorsport fans,
Imsa and Indycar at long beach , MotoGP , F1 , Formula E , Supercars , blancpain endurance(monza) , SuperGT (Okayama) , nascar and european le mans
I'll watch them all (except ELMS and nascar) if there aren't any schedule conflicts , but i'll give priority to Indycar+F1+supercars

 

[Ryno917]

It's gonna be a great weekend for Motorsport fans,
Imsa and Indycar at long beach , MotoGP , F1 , Formula E , Supercars , blancpain endurance(monza) , SuperGT (Okayama) , nascar and european le mans
I'll watch them all (except ELMS and nascar) if there aren't any schedule conflicts , but i'll give priority to Indycar+F1+supercars

Completely forgot about IMSA. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[Alex Townsend]

It's gonna be a great weekend for Motorsport fans,
Imsa and Indycar at long beach , MotoGP , F1 , Formula E , Supercars , blancpain endurance(monza) , SuperGT (Okayama) , nascar and european le mans
I'll watch them all (except ELMS and nascar) if there aren't any schedule conflicts , but i'll give priority to Indycar+F1+supercars

Just checked and their YT channel only has practice, Quali and 30 min race highlights. Looks like they had full races for 2018...

Think I'll be prioritising Blancpain, Super GT and F1 this weekend.
May take a look at IMSA if it's available on YouTube

 

[Jonathan Young]

F1, IndyCar and Blancpainat Monza for me - not sure how I’ll watch that last one, but given how into ACC I am, I’ll have to find a way,

 

[Ryno917]

Just checked and their YT channel only has practice, Quali and 30 min race highlights. Looks like they had full races for 2018...

If you're talking about Indycar, their 2019 TV deal with NBC doesn't allow for full races uploaded to YT like they did last year, unfortunately. If you mean IMSA, well almost every country except for the US and Canada get to watch their races live, for free, on IMSA.TV.

 

[Alex Townsend]

F1, IndyCar and Blancpainat Monza for me - not sure how I’ll watch that last one, but given how into ACC I am, I’ll have to find a way,

It's streamed live on YT
I think this in part has increased it's popularity due to the fact it's free to view.

 

[farjam]

Just checked and their YT channel only has practice, Quali and 30 min race highlights. Looks like they had full races for 2018...

Think I'll be prioritising Blancpain, Super GT and F1 this weekend.
May take a look at IMSA if it's available on YouTube

I watch imsa on imsatv , but i heard it's restricted in some countries like USA because of NBC i think

F1, IndyCar and Blancpainat Monza for me - not sure how I’ll watch that last one, but given how into ACC I am, I’ll have to find a way,

You can watch all blancpain races here , it's the SRO Motorsports Group channel on youtube and stream GT races legally
this is the monza race stream link in english and french , just click on "set reminder" and it will inform you before the race

 

[Alex Townsend]

If you're talking about Indycar, their 2019 TV deal with NBC doesn't allow for full races uploaded to YT like they did last year, unfortunately. If you mean IMSA, well almost every country except for the US and Canada get to watch their races live, for free, on IMSA.TV.

That is a shame. As I don't have a satellite or cable subscription here as the service is so poor. Most of my racing viewing happens on YT or download after it's been on.

 

[Alex Townsend]

If you're talking about Indycar, their 2019 TV deal with NBC doesn't allow for full races uploaded to YT like they did last year, unfortunately. If you mean IMSA, well almost every country except for the US and Canada get to watch their races live, for free, on IMSA.TV.

I'm in Malaysia so hopefully I can get IMSA free then. Shame about IndyCar...

 

[Ryno917]

I'm in Malaysia so hopefully I can get IMSA free then. Shame about IndyCar...

If IMSA is not broadcast in your country, than you will be able to watch live on IMSA.TV legally

 

[Alex Townsend]

Fingers crossed then.
Like I say, I think SRO had the right idea by allowing live streaming of their races. It means they can capture audience that may have not previously have watched whilst giving motorsport fans, who either can't or don't have satellite or cable for whatever reason, the chance to get hooked on the racing.
Once they have a large and loyal fan base, I can see them maybe creating their own channel of which I for one would pay to subscribe to.

 

[Ryno917]

Fingers crossed then.
Like I say, I think SRO had the right idea by allowing live streaming of their races. It means they can capture audience that may have not previously have watched whilst giving motorsport fans, who either can't or don't have satellite or cable for whatever reason, the chance to get hooked on the racing.
Once they have a large and loyal fan base, I can see them maybe creating their own channel of which I for one would pay to subscribe to.

I'm sure it must not work out the best for the series or more of them would be doing it, but I agree.

WEC used to have a streaming package, which was $50 a year and included live HD streaming of every single session, including the full 24 hours of Le Mans. No ads. It was great. If Indycar, IMSA, Blancpain, Formula E and so on would do the same, I'd probably pay for most of them. I'd get to watch more racing live than I ever had in my life, and I'd spend less money than it would cost me to watch two of them live through cable.

I mean, Indycar is shown live on cable in Canada this season, but on an obscure channel that I have to pay $100/mo to get. Just for one single series. And I'd still have to suffer through commercials for the privilege.

Just... No. Not doing it.

 

[wombat999]

Absolutely appalling coverage of Motorsport in Australia, FTA (such as it is) runs more advertising time than race time, while FOX doesn't cover Indycar or NASCAR and is riddled with advertising.

 

[Ryno917]

Absolutely appalling coverage of Motorsport in Australia, FTA (such as it is) runs more advertising time than race time, while FOX doesn't cover Indycar or NASCAR and is riddled with advertising.

At least it's not as bad as it is in North America. Expensive paid channels still air more ads than race coverage.

 

[wombat999]

I made an attempt to watch a couple of the NASCAR road race rounds last season and gave up because of the constant stream of commercials, the same for Indycars. I always thought (simple suck that I am!) 'Pay TV' was supposedly 'Commercial Free'.

 

[Ruy Horta]

Unless it is F1 it is almost exclusively payview where I live.

 

[Andrew Harper]

I'm at a running event at the weekend (doing laps of Goodwood ironically) so will miss most of this good stuff, but I'll try and watch either Blancpain or ELMS if I get chance. Both series have huge depth this year, 49 GT3 starters for Monza. Awesome sight.

I'm not really enjoying F1 too much these days so I can live with missing that one. I may watch IMSA the night before though, it's usually pretty manic around there! lol. I can't afford the monthly subscription to SKY F1 to see Indycar. I have watched the odd live stream but my goodness those American stations love their breaks don't they?

The race at Barber though was pretty good, a tough track to pass on but the sight of those cars on that track make for a great spectacle which makes up for it in my view.

Agree with the comment above about the WEC app BTW. Well worth the yearly subscription if like me you enjoy your sportscar racing. One time fee, full races with no adverts, lots of interviews, extras, live on boards, etc. How a motorsport app should be done really. The free Blancpain app is very good too.

However top marks to both Blancpain and ELMS for streaming all their races live with no breaks or adverts. Both series had some great races last year. I'm still gutted that I couldn't time off work to see the Spa 24 this year!

 

[Fabian Balle]

With IndyCar, IMSA, Nascar, VA Supercars, MotoGP, VLN and Formula E this will be one of the greatest weekends of the year !!