Australian IndyCar star Will Power has come from ninth on the grid to take out the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama holding off Kiwi Scott Dixon to take the win.
Power inherited the lead from Penske team-mate, Helio Castroneves when he pitted his Chevrolet on lap 68 of 90 and then survived a restart on lap 74 to take the 16th win of his career – equalling the IZOD IndyCar Series wins by the late Dan Wheldon. It takes Chevrolet to an undefeated streak since re-entering the Series this year.
“(Race strategist) Tim Cindric kept putting me in such a good position so we could use our speed,” said Power. “That last restart was kind of hairy. I knew Scott was going to be really quick and hounded me for a couple laps there.
“Just with good stops and good strategy calls put me out in clean air so we could use our speed. We slowly passed one by one. It was a very good team effort. The strategy was perfect. The stops were perfect.”
Dixon has finished second in all three of the events conducted at Barber Motorsports Park and is off to his best start in the IndyCar Series since his 2008 Championship year.
“We got caught up there in some traffic in the pit; the pit sequence kind of got us there,” said Dixon. “I think we had the car to beat. We had the speed and for the most part the right strategy, but just wasn’t our day today.
“All in all, Team Target did a fantastic job with Honda. I think we’re starting to get on something with this car, so hopefully in the next few races we might be looking at the top spot on the podium.”
Helio Castroneves ended the race in third placing – just holding out Graham Rahal. Both Sebastian Bourdais and Formula 1 convert, Rubens Barrichello finished within the top 10, Bourdais delivering the Lotus powerplant its first top 10 in the Series.
Ryan Briscoe struggled with rear tyre life and came home in 14th position.
Castroneves now leads the Championship by two points from Dixon with Power a further seven points behind.
Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama (top 15):
1 Will Power
2 Scott Dixon 3.3709
3 Helio Castroneves 19.1150
4 Graham Rahal 19.3395
5 Simon Pagenaud 20.1050
6 James Hinchcliffe 23.3093
7 Mike Conway 24.5552
8 Rubens Barrichello 25.4023
9 Sebastien Bourdais 27.1815
10 Dario Franchitti 32.7377
11 Marco Andretti 33.5038
12 Ryan Hunter-Reay 35.8730
13 Oriol Servia 37.8944
14 Ryan Briscoe 41.6742
15 JR Hildebrand 44.5059
Here is the Foxsports News report
