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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Power’s Comeback Drive Chronicled
Before we start the next round at Mid-Ohio, Team Penske's Will Power breaks down his ridiculous drive from 17th to third at Edmonton for SPEED.com.
With most of the field in front of him at the start, Will Power set off in pursuit of the 16 cars that stood between him and victory. (Photo: LAT)
If you were one of the lucky fans to watch trackside at Edmonton, Will Power’s drive from 17th to third won’t soon be forgotten.
For those of you who watched it home, you weren’t quite as lucky as only select parts of his race-long hunt for the podium were shown. Told mostly through watching the live timing and scoring feed, Power’s progress during the caution-free 75-lap contest was nothing short of spectacular.
Starting 17th after qualifying seventh and taking a 10-spot grid penalty for switching to a fresh engine before its schedule rebuild was due, the 31-year-old had just an hour and 38 minutes to work his way forward, and did so without the aid of cautions to bunch up the field.
What he, race strategist Tim Cindric and the entire No. 12 Team Penske outfit did from there was…well, follow his progress on the lap chart and you’ll get a feeling for what they accomplished.
Starting on the slower Firestone Blacks, Power crossed the line at the end of Lap 1 in 15th, passed James Jakes for 14th on Lap 2, got Josef Newgarden for 13th on Lap 4, took 12th from Sebastien Bourdais on Lap 5, stalked James Hinchcliffe until Lap 14 before passing him for 11th, then followed the same script to reel in his friend Simon Pagenaud.
It took Power until Lap 24 to pass Pagenaud for 10th, but those seven positions didn’t come easily as Power told SPEED.com.
“While I was passing people during my first stint, I had to save fuel—enough to have a couple laps extra to push really hard when people pitted,” he said. “Going flat out wasn’t really an option.”
Using the somewhat slower Blacks, and needing to save fuel by lifting off the throttle in strategic places around the 13-turn, 2.2-mile airport circuit, Power had two unique constraints to contend with, yet the Aussie continued to pick up spots with abandon.
When drivers began to make their first round of pit stops, Power ratcheted up the pressure to a new level. He was promoted to seventh on Lap 25—right behind Ryan Hunter-Reay who started 11th—when approximately half the field pitted, then inherited fifth on Lap 26 when a few more ahead of him stopped, and briefly took over the lead on Lap 27 when the rest of the leaders pitted.
At the time, Alex Tagliani, leading the race on Reds, was routinely the fastest car on the track and was only matched by Power, who drew down the gap to the front of the field before stopping for fuel and tires on Lap 27.
“Cold tires weren’t that much of a deficit there, either,” said Power. “It wasn’t a huge penalty—the guys coming out of the pits weren’t really struggling for grip or tire temps, but that’s how I was doing it.”
Tagliani resumed the lead on Blacks on Lap 28, while Power, now on Reds, returned to the track in eighth, one position ahead of his championship rival Hunter-Reay.
Lap 29 saw Power take two full seconds off of Tagliani and pass Tony Kanaan for seventh. Having regained the 10 spots he lost from the engine change penalty--before the race had reached the halfway mark, Power said the achievement didn’t register at the time.
“I was focused on the drive,” he remarked. “I just knew the objective of the race was to finish ahead of Hunter-Reay. After the engine change, I knew I had to finish ahead of the guy, and anything else was a bonus after that. We figured a top 5 was going to be a very good result.”
For those of you who watched it home, you weren’t quite as lucky as only select parts of his race-long hunt for the podium were shown. Told mostly through watching the live timing and scoring feed, Power’s progress during the caution-free 75-lap contest was nothing short of spectacular.
Starting 17th after qualifying seventh and taking a 10-spot grid penalty for switching to a fresh engine before its schedule rebuild was due, the 31-year-old had just an hour and 38 minutes to work his way forward, and did so without the aid of cautions to bunch up the field.
What he, race strategist Tim Cindric and the entire No. 12 Team Penske outfit did from there was…well, follow his progress on the lap chart and you’ll get a feeling for what they accomplished.
Starting on the slower Firestone Blacks, Power crossed the line at the end of Lap 1 in 15th, passed James Jakes for 14th on Lap 2, got Josef Newgarden for 13th on Lap 4, took 12th from Sebastien Bourdais on Lap 5, stalked James Hinchcliffe until Lap 14 before passing him for 11th, then followed the same script to reel in his friend Simon Pagenaud.
It took Power until Lap 24 to pass Pagenaud for 10th, but those seven positions didn’t come easily as Power told SPEED.com.
“While I was passing people during my first stint, I had to save fuel—enough to have a couple laps extra to push really hard when people pitted,” he said. “Going flat out wasn’t really an option.”
Using the somewhat slower Blacks, and needing to save fuel by lifting off the throttle in strategic places around the 13-turn, 2.2-mile airport circuit, Power had two unique constraints to contend with, yet the Aussie continued to pick up spots with abandon.
When drivers began to make their first round of pit stops, Power ratcheted up the pressure to a new level. He was promoted to seventh on Lap 25—right behind Ryan Hunter-Reay who started 11th—when approximately half the field pitted, then inherited fifth on Lap 26 when a few more ahead of him stopped, and briefly took over the lead on Lap 27 when the rest of the leaders pitted.
At the time, Alex Tagliani, leading the race on Reds, was routinely the fastest car on the track and was only matched by Power, who drew down the gap to the front of the field before stopping for fuel and tires on Lap 27.
“Cold tires weren’t that much of a deficit there, either,” said Power. “It wasn’t a huge penalty—the guys coming out of the pits weren’t really struggling for grip or tire temps, but that’s how I was doing it.”
Tagliani resumed the lead on Blacks on Lap 28, while Power, now on Reds, returned to the track in eighth, one position ahead of his championship rival Hunter-Reay.
Lap 29 saw Power take two full seconds off of Tagliani and pass Tony Kanaan for seventh. Having regained the 10 spots he lost from the engine change penalty--before the race had reached the halfway mark, Power said the achievement didn’t register at the time.
“I was focused on the drive,” he remarked. “I just knew the objective of the race was to finish ahead of Hunter-Reay. After the engine change, I knew I had to finish ahead of the guy, and anything else was a bonus after that. We figured a top 5 was going to be a very good result.”
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