Will Power, the IZOD IndyCar Series’ current beast of the streets, is looking to go two-for-two on the young season with a win in Sunday’s Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC).
The Toowoomba, Australia native, who won the season opener on March 14 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, isn’t quite sure exactly why he’s good at temporary tracks. But in an IRL teleconference yesterday, Power mentioned the importance of putting the little things together and handling the track as it shifts condition-wise.
“I’m not sure what it is about street circuits, but there’s a lot more challenges on a street circuit than there are on ovals or road courses with uneven surfaces, bumps, different surfaces, grip level-wise, and you’ve got a wall,” he said. “So you can’t make a mistake. You’ve got to creep up on it all weekend. The track is constantly changing because the rubber goes down over the weekend and because it’s just a street during the normal day, and it’s just all these little details that count to be quick.”
Power’s victory in Sao Paulo was an emotional one for him, as it came in his first race back after a vicious season-ending crash last year at Infineon Raceway. At that point, he was in a part-time program for Team Penske, but as he recovered from his injuries, he was upgraded to full-time status and took over the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske entry.
He has quickly shown to be taking full advantage of the opportunity, topping the Open Test last month at Barber Motorsports Park (which will host the next IZOD IndyCar Series race after Sunday, on April 11) and then going down to Brazil and surviving a wild Sao Paulo Indy 300. With less than four minutes remaining on the clock, Power made the winning pass on Ryan Hunter-Reay at Turn 11 and cruised to the checkered flag.
Power felt the triumph was special since he wasn’t sure how good of a driver he would be after rehabilitating from his accident in Sonoma.
“It was quite emotional to be honest, because when you have an injury like that and you have a lot of downtime during the recovery period, you can become a little bit uncertain whether you’ll come back as strong as you were and whether you’d be as quick as you were,” he said. “[Winning in Sao Paulo] was just confirmation that everything is back as it was and just helped with my confidence to be honest.”
The win also cemented him as a true force to be reckoned with this year and in Power’s eyes, gave him and his new team confidence that they can walk away with the IZOD IndyCar Series title at Homestead-Miami Speedway this fall.
“It’s important for any victory during the season, but I guess it just gets the season kicked off in a good way,” he said. “You get pit-out [position] of the next race, which is St. Pete coming up, and I think it gives the team — which is a new crew for me — confidence in me, and I have confidence in them that we can win this championship. We’ve just got to keep it together.”
For a more in-depth look at Power’s ability to master street racing, check out Racer Magazine’s David Malsher and his interview with the Australian star. Also, Power has taken control of his own “Power Zone” blog at Versus.com; his first entry is on Sao Paulo and takes readers through the weekend as he saw it.
