Will Power continues IndyCar domination with Sao Paulo
Will Power took his third IndyCar Series win in succession with his victory in a chaotic race around the streets of Sao Paulo
The Penske driver started from pole and looked in control for most of the afternoon, although he was forced to survive a number of restarts due to a string of accidents behind him.
The last of these came with just a handful of laps remaining, forcing him to defend against Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti) in the final dash for the flag. The margin of victory was 0.9 seconds.
Dario Franchitti (Ganassi) had been on target for third but struggled to get heat into his tyres for the final restart, allowing Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) to pass him for his first-ever IndyCar podium finish. Helio Castroneves (Penske) also managed to pass Franchitti, leaving the Scot to finish fifth.
From Franchitti's perspective this was a decent piece of damage limitation, considering that he had been one of several drivers to be caught up in accidents on restarts when he was pitched backwards over the Turn 1 kerbs midway through the race. That dropped him to 20th, but he was able to get himself back towards the front of the field through a combination of a judiciously-timed visit to the pits and some good overtaking moves.
While plenty of drivers ended the race with battle scars, none suffered more than Ganassi's Scott Dixon. The Kiwi was the only driver to pass Power during the race, but he did so knowing that he still needed to stop for a splash of fuel.
He had built up a 3.0s lead when he did so, only to lose positions under a yellow that immediately followed, and then get bottled up behind an accident on the restart. He eventually crossed the line in 17th place.
Results - 75 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy 2h08m18.2816s 2. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevy + 0.9045s 3. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda + 2.3905s 4. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy + 4.5489s 5. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda + 5.1722s 6. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevy + 6.2615s 7. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy + 8.3764s 8. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda + 8.5905s 9. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy + 10.3449s 10. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy + 10.8477s 11. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus + 24.4771s 12. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda + 1 lap 13. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy + 1 lap 14. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevy + 1 lap 15. James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda + 1 lap 16. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda + 1 lap 17. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda + 1 lap 18. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Lotus + 1 lap 19. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda + 2 laps 20. Ana Beatriz Andretti DW12-Chevy + 2 laps 21. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevy + 3 laps Retirements: Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 66 laps Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 61 laps Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 28 laps Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy 21 laps Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Lotus 20 laps
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments