INDYCAR: Power Leads Flag-To-Flag At Barber

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Power Leads Flag-To-Flag At Barber

It was 90 laps up and 90 laps down for Team Penske's Will Power who led flag-to-flag to shred the field Sunday at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.

Marshall Pruett | Posted April 10, 2011

Team Penske's Will Power flew on Sunday--on the track and jumping out of his Verizon Wireless car in Victory Lane. (LAT/Paul Webb)

It was 90 laps up and 90 laps down for Team Penske's Will Power who led flag-to-flag to shred the field Sunday at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. The Aussie road course expert led from pole to come home 3.38 seconds ahead of Target Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon.

The Barber Motorsports Park event lacked the first-lap drama of St. Petersburg, but there was no shortage of contact, yellows and mayhem. Six caution periods for 20 laps kept the race from building much of a rhythm, but the best stint came when the green flag waved on Lap 67, initiating a hard run to the checkered flag.

With the majority of the field on the ultra sticky Firestone Reds, Dixon held Power to a half-second lead for approximately a dozen laps before the pole sitter began to inch away in the final 10 laps.

Pulling out .2 to .3 seconds per lap, there was little the two-time IndyCar Series champion could do to halt Power's determined march.

Power, who looked like he jumped off a skateboard vert ramp when exiting his car in Victory Lane, said it was smooth sailing in the cockpit.

Will Power made Sunday's win look easy, which can't make the rest of the field overly happy with two more road/street circuits on the calendar ahead of the Indy 500. (LAT/Michael Levitt)

"It was one of the easiest races I've done physically," said the seven-time IZOD IndyCar Series race winner. "I've been training really hard and Scott [Dixon] pushed me hard. [I'm] really happy for the Verizon No. 12 [team]."

Dixon, who felt he was pushed wide by Power on at least one restart, which caused team boss Chip Ganassi to pay a heated visit to Power's timing stand during the race, said there wasn't much left to give after 90 hard laps of competition.

"It was a tough. We definitely gave it our all today, and our all wasn't enough. A good day for Team Target and a lot better points than in St. Pete."

Dario Franchitti improved from his seventh starting spot to third on Sunday--albeit a distant third, 15.524 seconds behind Power--and also lost the points lead to Power at Barber.

Knowing he didn't have the pace to match Power or his teammate, Franchitti says he's happy to come home on the podium.

"I was making full use of the side-by-side restarts," said the Scot. "We had some really good racing on the restarts today. From a seventh place start today, up to third isn't bad."

Marco Andretti salvaged a poor overall weekend by Andretti Autosport to take fourth, yet was nearly a half-lap behind Power with a 28.960 gap to the No. 12 Verizon Wireless car at the finish.

"It was a pretty eventful weekend," said Andretti, who finished fifth last year at Barber. "A lot of ups and downs. A decent result for the Venom crew. I'm going to work really hard on beating up on the [Ganassi and Penske] cars for the rest of the year."

Oriol Servia had another amazing run in his second race back for the Telemundo-sponsored Newman/Haas entry, finishing fifth after a heated duel with Tony Kanaan, who settled for sixth after improving 18 positions from his 24th-place starting position.

Scott Dixon came up short on Sunday, but recovered nicely after a disastrous St. Pete event. (LAT)

"It was exciting, but we wanted more," said Servia. "We were strong all weekend. We were up to third at one point, but with all those restarts, you gain on some and you lose on some."

Kanaan, still learning his new team, was happy, if not slightly relived to finish eighth after having to pass so many cars.

"It was a great start. I think I was in the right place at the right time. I have to thank the team."

Kanaan earned 10 positions on Lap 1, adding to his legend as the best passer in the series. He'd pit on Lap 15, falling to the back of the field and having to begin the passing all over again. The nickname "The Big Mover" might be on the cards for TK as he certainly passed more cars than anyone in his jump from 24th on the grid.

Other than Will Power, the happiest driver at Barber was Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's Simon Pagenaud, who came home in eighth on his first IndyCar Series start and finished as the top rookie in the field.

The Frenchman, after starting 23rd, says he's hoping other teams consider him for future races (Ana Beatriz, who Pagenaud filled in for, is expected to return next week at Long Beach).

"It was good racing. I really enjoyed it. Thanks to everyone in the series who welcomed me so much. In the end I was following Helio [Castroneves] and tried following him. In the end we tried a strategy that got me ahead towards the end. I'm really happy. I want to race as many races as I can in 2011 and I'm available until then!"

Pagenaud made a number of passes in the run to the finish, coming within .428 of Helio Castroneves, who had a difficult early race but managed to come home in a seventh place after scoring no points at St. Pete.

If not for yet another interruption to her race by KV Racing-Lotus driver E.J. Viso, Simona De Silvestro might have improved upon her ninth-place finish at Barber.

Viso, who attempted to pass the Swiss driver on the outside of the turn 5 hairpin on the Lap 40 restart, appeared to spin himself off of her right front wheel. Newman/Haas rookie James Hinchcliffe took avoiding action by trying to go around the outside of the two drivers, but with Viso's car continuing to slide backward, the Canadian clipped Viso, breaking the left rear suspension on both cars and ending the day for both.

De Silvestro, who avoided any damage, was stuck with Viso blocking the track in front of her. She would sit parked until the IndyCar Safety Team puller her back far enough to clear the Venezuelan driver.

De Silvestro was polite but obviously frustrated when referring to the hapless Viso.

"It's not bad," she said of her final finishing position. "Definitely we could have been more up front if we didn't have that issue with Viso. But coming back to ninth is great. It's two good results in a row; I wish we were a little more up [front] but we're happy with this result."

Viso, for the sake of clarity, blamed De Silvestro for their contact.

Hinchcliffe suffered a solo spin on the opening lap but was working his way back to the front at the time of the accident. He would be credited with 24th for his first start, while Viso backed up his 19th at St. Pete with a 23rd at Barber.

Unlike De Silvestro, Hinchcliffe let his feelings show regarding Viso.

“We got off to a rough start. I was hoping to not make too many rookie mistakes and on Lap 1 we went around (spun) and fell to the back but the team got me back on a great strategy; we were down to two stops and I think we were running pretty well. On the restart, I think Simona got into E.J. and that wasn’t his fault but Day 1 of racing school you learn that when you are spinning you hit the brakes and the clutch and he just hit the gas. I went around the outside of him hoping he would just hit the brakes but he pinned it (hit the throttle) and the back end whipped around and took us out. It wasn’t his fault (that) he spun; he just put himself in a bad position and ended up taking us out too. It was an unfortunate day for the whole team. Newman/Haas deserved better than that today, Sprott deserved better than that today.”

Power has the 2.3-mile road course all to himself on Sunday. (LAT)

Charlie Kimball showed great poise on his way to 10th in the race. Falling as far back as P19 at the halfway point, Kimball made passes when available and ran clean to benefit from the mistakes of others. After learning a hard lesson at St. Pete when he crashed on cold tires, the 26-year-old American displayed great maturity in Alabama to improve from his 21st starting position.

Dale Coyne Racing's Sebastien Bourdais impressed in his No. 19 boy Scouts of America entry, persevering in the early going to claim 11th in his first race for the team. The four-time Champ Car champion was especially effective on Reds at the end of the race, picking off car after car and nearly cracking the top 10.

Vitor Meira looked like he had a long day ahead of him in the early segment of the race, but kept out of harm's way to claim 12th, 42.644 seconds behind Power. With just 16 cars on the lead lap and 18 total finishing the race, it would be fair to say Bourdais' 11th and Meira's 12th were slightly deceptive, as the two drivers had relatively drama-free races.

The same could not be said for Panther Racing rookie JR Hildebrand, whose day was filled with incidents.

Hildebrand and Rafa Matos came together on the exit of Turn 5, interlocking wheels. Matos spun to the inside and stalled, bringing out the pace car at the end of Lap 1. With the front wings damaged on his No. 4 National Guard car, Hildebrand pitted on Lap 6 after falling to P19. The 2009 Firestone Indy Lights Series champion added to the length of the pit stop by stalling as he attempted to pull away. Another bout of contact on Lap 36--this time with Graham Rahal trying an opportunistic pass on entry to Turn 5--bent the Ganassi driver's right front toe link and sent Hildebrand into a half-spin.

One lap down at that point in the race, it's possible Hildebrand should have conceded the corner to Rahal who was running towards the front of the field, but with Rahal's No. 38 Service Central machine only one-third of the way alongside Hildebrand when the National Guard-sponsored driver was turning in, it was a recipe for contact. Rahal pitted to have his toe link replaced, but lost two laps during the process, finishing 18th.

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