Will Power scores third win of 2010, pads points lead to 32 over Dario Franchitti
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Will Power began the second half of the IZOD IndyCar Series season the same way he started the first half — in Victory Lane.
With Sunday’s Camping World Grand Prix at Watkins Glen starting a stretch of five straight road/street course races, Power is in prime position to rebuild a sizable lead in the championship. Step 1 was a success as Power led 45 of 60 laps to finally bring Team Penske a victory at the Glen and increase his lead in the standings to 32 points over Dario Franchitti.
And considering that the next race in two weeks takes place on a street course (the Honda Indy Toronto) — a discipline that Power has shown to be a master of — Step 2 could be even bigger than Step 1. He isn’t content with his edge, either.
“That’s not that much,” Power said. “It’s one weekend. You could have a bad race, somebody wins, you’re back behind again.
“I realize you actually have to win races to win the championship. You do. The points spread, that extra 10 points you get for winning. The guys I’m competing against, it’s really tough. It’s really competitive. You can’t relax. I mean, people say, ‘You get on the road courses, road courses coming up.’ But [Scott] Dixon, Franchitti, Helio [Castroneves], Ryan [Briscoe] are all as quick as I am. So you got to win, but you got to make no mistakes.”
Power didn’t appear to make any in the 60-lap race, but still needed to get by teammate Briscoe in order to pick up his third victory of the year. Shortly after a restart on Lap 44, the No. 12 Verizon machine of Power pushed by the No. 6 car of Briscoe on the straightaway leading into the Glen’s “bus stop” chicane. Power would maintain the point for the rest of the race, while Briscoe lost and then re-took second place from Franchitti on the final lap of the race to ensure a Penske 1-2 finish.
“I knew my only chance of passing Ryan was on that restart, ’cause we had to conserve fuel on the yellow,” Power said. “Our tires got cold and picked up some debris. It was very slippery on the restart. That was the key to winning the race, basically, was getting him then. Once it spread out and we went back to saving fuel, I don’t think I could have got him.”
With Power and Franchitti ahead of him in the final stages, Briscoe resigned himself to trying to get a runner-up performance. Fortunately for him, his car came back to him and one little mistake from Franchitti allowed Briscoe to get P2.
“I think with my downforce in the car, my car was getting stronger at the end and I was able to turn in quicker lap times than Will and Dario and really start putting the pressure on Dario,” said Briscoe. “You know, the tires — thankfully for me, not too much for Dario — his just went off a lap or two too quickly. I saw him starting to struggle. You know, I could smell the candy. I started pushing even more.
“Thankfully, [he] just got a little bit wide and I was able to get a run coming down for the last lap and hang on to it.”
As for Franchitti, he admitted to using up his tires in an ultimately vain attempt to hunt down Power and that cost him on the final lap.
“We used them for some of the qualifying run I believe in the Fast Six,” he said. “Then I just overused them. I had cord showing on the right front. Ryan was getting a little closer to me. I was trying to make a gap before we got to the straight on the last lap. I pushed too hard in the second to the last corner, he got past me. That’s all there was to say about it.”
Raphael Matos collected a strong fourth-place finish for De Ferran Dragon Racing and fellow Brazilian Mario Moraes also claimed a solid result, finishing fifth. Dan Wheldon, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, and Justin Wilson rounded out the top 10.
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Materials taken from a post-race press conference transcript were used in the making of this article.
