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IndyCar Pocono: Will Power closes on points lead with victory

Will Power left it late to secure his fourth IndyCar win of the season at Pocono and closed to within 20 points of title leader Simon Pagenaud after the Frenchman's late crash

Power started eighth at the 'Tricky Triangle,' but early on struggled to match the pace of the leading Honda-powered cars.

It took several tweaks to downforce levels in the first two pit windows for Power to match the leading cars, soon joining the front battle between polesitter Mikhail Aleshin, Josef Newgarden and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

In the last quarter of the race, Power finally made his move for the lead and just minutes later his cause was boosted by Pagenaud's retirement.

His title rival, who led by 58 points coming into the weekend, bottomed out on the exit of Turn 1 and collided with the wall before retiring.

Power then battled to victory ahead of Aleshin, with the top two cars running in a duel of their own in the final laps.

Aleshin had held the early lead, before he was dragged into a thrilling battle with Hunter-Reay.

The Andretti Autosport man started at the back of the grid after his practice shunt prevented him from qualifying.

It took just 49 laps for him to take the lead, before then conserving fuel to ensure he matched the strategy of top two Aleshin and Newgarden.

It looked to be a masterstroke until an engine problem put him a lap down as he put his Andretti car through a power cycle, but a caution period after a winglet of Tony Kanaan's car landed on the racing line enabled him to make another charge.

Hunter-Reay made up ground from a lap down to take third at the flag as he pipped Newgarden to the podium.

Sebastien Bourdais took fifth after starting down in 18th place. The ex-Formula 1 driver's gamble to not change tyres for the final stint proved successful, as he made up five places in the pits.

Despite his tyre wear, he was able to hold off the sixth placed car of Scott Dixon.

Seventh fell to Carlos Munoz ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya, despite Munoz running with the lead pack early on, who struggled to find pace early on, but improved as the race went on to ensure he finished eighth ahead of Kanaan and James Hinchcliffe.

In the first 500-mile race since Indianapolis, Alexander Rossi was unable to turn his early top three running into a result after a pit-lane collision.

After leaving his pit box, Rossi made contact with Charlie Kimball as he approached his stop, launching Rossi's car over Helio Castroneves and almost hitting the Brazilian's head, and led to Rossi's retirement.

RESULT - 200 LAPS

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 2h46m28.9856s
2 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1.1459s
3 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 5.9076s
4 Josef Newgarden Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 7.0750s
5 Sebastien Bourdais KVSH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 7.5285s
6 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 7.8896s
7 Carlos Munoz Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 11.5938s
8 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 13.4345s
9 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 13.7988s
10 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 14.2235s
11 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 14.3471s
12 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 16.3334s
13 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 17.1907s
14 Jack Hawksworth AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 18.5585s
15 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1 Lap
16 Conor Daly Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 2 Laps
17 Pippa Mann Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 3 Laps
18 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet Contact
19 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet Contact
20 Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda Contact
21 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet Mechanical
22 Takuma Sato AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda Contact


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