Power play leads Penske to GP win
INDIANAPOLIS — Will Power’s timing was impeccable Saturday.
He picked the perfect strategy with his red tires. He pressed the push-to-pass button at precisely the right moment. He gave Roger Penske his 200th series victory at Penske’s place — Indianapolis.
Power overcame a late caution period that shrunk his lead, barely won the race off pit lane on the final stop and even drove through some light rain to pull away from Scott Dixon by 2.2443 seconds for his second consecutive IndyCar Grand Prix victory.
“It’s been a slow start for us, so it’s fantastic to get the win,” the first three-time race winner said. “It’s amazing to be a part of that history with Penske Racing because it’s such a deep history.”
It might be just what the Australian needed.
He came into the weekend with only one top-five finish all season, a second at Long Beach. The only other top-10 he had this season was in the season opener at St. Petersburg.
But Power won the pole Friday and dominated again on Indy’s 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course. He led a racehigh 56 laps including the last 34 after taking advantage of his tire choice to quickly close the gap with race leader Robert Wickens on the front straightaway before making a smooth move to beat the rookie into the first turn on Lap 51.
“He was on blacks and I was on reds, so I returned the favor and really caught him,” Power said. “Once I got past him it was pretty straight forward because we were much faster.”
Power has won three of the last four road-course events at Indy — all from the pole.
Wickens, a Canadian who drives for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, finished third, more than 8.1 seconds off the pace.