Power takes first Champ Car win

The Team Australia driver, whose previous best finish was third in Mexico City last year, finished the 68-lap race nearly 17 seconds up on Dutchman Robert Doornbos of Minardi Team USA.

Third place went to Paul Tracy after a charging drive as he sought to overcome the delay of an unscheduled pitstop.

Power was the only driver to duck under the 1:20 barrier on his quickest lap, and he survived a brush with the wall and a collision with his right front-wheel man to maintain his lead.

After grabbing the lead at the start, Tracy led the opening nine laps until Power blasted past into Turn 1, but the 2003 champion kept pace with his rival until the pair pitted on lap 28.

Tracy's Forsythe Championship Racing team struggled with a recalcitrant refuelling nozzle, which obliged the Canadian to stop again five laps later, ruining any chance he had of beating Power, and allowing the impressive Doornbos into second.

Alex Tagliani, with a different pitstop strategy, finished fourth for RSPORTS, with Tristan Gommendy scoring fifth for PKV Racing on his Champ Car debut.

Dale Coyne Racing's Katherine Legge rounded out the top six. Her teammate Bruno Junqueira had the same issue as Tracy, obliging him to stop again and robbing him of a fifth place finish.

Sebastien Bourdais suffered two punctures before crashing out as he scorched through the field from 16th on the grid, while Justin Wilson parked his RSPORTS car with transmission failure.

Pos  Driver              Team                       Time
 1.  Will Power          Team Australia             1h 45:13.637
 2.  Robert Doornbos     Minardi Team USA           +     16.787
 3.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe Championship      +     27.356
 4.  Alex Tagliani       RSPORTS                    +     48.980
 5.  Tristan Gommendy    PKV                        +   1:10.395
 6.  Katherine Legge     Dale Coyne                 +   1:21.260
 7.  Bruno Junqueira     Dale Coyne                 +     1 Lap
 8.  Alex Figge          Pacific Coast Motorsports  +     5 Laps
 9.  Mario Dominguez     Forsythe Championship      +    11 Laps
10.  Neel Jani           PKV                        +    12 Laps
11.  Ryan Dalziel        Pacific Coast Motorsports  +    16 Laps
12.  Simon Pagenaud      Team Australia             +    21 Laps
13.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman/ Haas/ Lanigan      +    38 Laps
14.  Justin Wilson       RSPORTS                    +    48 Laps
15.  Dan Clarke          Minardi Team USA           +    55 Laps
16.  Matt Halliday       Conquest                   +    65 Laps
17.  Graham Rahal        Newman/ Haas/ Lanigan      +    67 Laps

Fastest lap: Power, 1:19.934 on lap 44