Will Power takes Barber IndyCar victory

The Penske driver started from ninth on the grid, but a combination of aggressive strategy and a bit of misfortune on Dixon's part helped the Australian to take the lead through the final cycle of pitstops.

Dixon (Ganassi) launched a final attack on the restart, and the lead duo quickly dropped the rest of the pack. The Kiwi was able to keep Power close initially before the Australian finally managed to open a gap. The final margin was 3.3 seconds.

Until just before the final round of stops, Dixon had the advantage. But after losing time behind HVM's Simona de Silvestro, he suffered a slow pitstop, which was compounded by having to then wait for EJ Viso's KV car to get out of the way before he could be released back into the pitlane. The time lost was enough for Power to take the lead, and after Dixon's pursuit was halted by fading tyres, the result was sealed.

St Petersburg winner Helio Castroneves was third for Penske, although he had to see off a determined charge from Ganassi's Graham Rahal to secure the place.

Despite Barber's processional reputation, the race was peppered with overtaking from the beginning. The combination of passing and differing strategies made for constant position changes, with one of the main beneficiaries being Dario Franchitti (Ganassi), who managed to cross the line in 10th place after starting 18th.

The reigning champion spent the final phase of the race in combat with Dragon Racing's Sebastien Bourdais, who delivered the Lotus engine's first top 10 finish when he crossed the line in ninth, and Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport), who was classified 11th after spending more or less the entire afternoon either attacking or defending.

Rubens Barrichello (KV) took a step forward in his adaptation to IndyCar by finishing eighth, capping his afternoon with a passing move on Andretti in the final laps.

Results - 90 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                           Time/Gap
 1.  Will Power           Penske DW12-Chevrolet         2h01m40.1127s
 2.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi DW12-Honda                + 3.3709s
 3.  Helio Castroneves    Penske DW12-Chevrolet            + 19.1150s
 4.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi DW12-Honda               + 19.3395s
 5.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda      + 20.1050s
 6.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti DW12-Chevrolet          + 23.3093s
 7.  Mike Conway          Foyt DW12-Honda                  + 24.5552s
 8.  Rubens Barrichello   KV DW12-Chevrolet                + 25.4023s
 9.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon DW12-Lotus                + 27.1815s
10.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi DW12-Honda               + 32.7377s
11.  Marco Andretti       Andretti DW12-Chevrolet          + 33.5038s
12.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti DW12-Chevrolet          + 35.8730s
13.  Oriol Servia         Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus     + 37.8944s
14.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske DW12-Chevrolet            + 41.6742s
15.  JR Hildebrand        Panther DW12-Chevrolet           + 44.5059s
16.  James Jakes          Coyne DW12-Honda                 + 54.5343s
17.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher DW12-Honda              + 1m00.6182s
18.  EJ Viso              KV DW12-Chevrolet                   + 1 lap
19.  Justin Wilson        Coyne DW12-Honda                    + 1 lap
20.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM DW12-Lotus                      + 1 lap
21.  Tony Kanaan          KV DW12-Chevrolet                   + 1 lap
22.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet           + 2 laps
23.  Katherine Legge      Dragon DW12-Lotus                  + 5 laps

Did not finish:

     Takuma Sato          Rahal DW12-Honda                    52 laps
     Charlie Kimball      Ganassi DW12-Honda                  45 laps
     Alex Tagliani        BHA DW12-Lotus                       0 laps