IndyCar – Will Power comes a long way at Pocono

On the very specific route of Pocono in Pennsylvania, Will Power (Team Penske – Chevrolet) showed himself to be the strongest at the end of the race to overcome a one-lap handicap after front wing problems in the first half of the event.

At the green flag, Tony Kanaan (Chip Ganassi Racing – Honda) got the best start, overtaking pole sitter Takuma Sato (Andretti Autosport – Honda) who lost several positions, while simon pagenaud (Team Penske) ranks 6th.

The first neutralization came on the 23rd lap for debris on the track, following a hit by Esteban Gutierrez (Dale Coyne Racing – Honda), who ended up retiring a few moments later.

All the drivers then go to the pits and Alexander Red (Andretti-Herta Autosport – Honda) comes out on top ahead of Will Power and Tony Kanaan. Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) follows ahead of James Hinchcliffe (SPM – Honda), Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) and Graham Rahal (Team RLL – Honda). Pagenaud is in 9th position ahead Helio Castroneves (Team Penske)

At the restart, Kanaan immediately took the lead from the outside and was ahead of Dixon, Power, Hinchcliffe and Rahal, when Rossi fell back to sixth. Dixon and Hinchcliffe then passed Kanaan, before Dixon opened the second round of stops at the end of the 54th lap.

Will Power was then forced to return to the pits at the end of the 67th lap, with a damaged front wing. A problem which caused the 2014 champion to plunge in the rankings in one round.

On Lap 65/200, @12WillPower pits for a broken front wing. The team made a speedy replacement. #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/zJzIL3sJtY

— Team Penske (@Team_Penske) August 20

Saavedra, Hinchcliffe and Hildebrand in the wall

Halfway through the race, Hunter-Reay overtook Rossi to take the lead, while the next stops began on lap 112, still initiated by Dixon. A salvo which sees Rossi losing time with a wheel poorly controlled by his mechanics.

The second yellow flag came on the 116th lap after contact with the wall by Sebastian Saavedra (SPM – Honda) who had to retire. The restart on lap 123 saw Kanaan take the lead before Rahal's immediate response but the race was neutralized again two laps later.

Hinchcliffe and JR Hildebrand (Ed Carpenter Racing – Chevrolet) made contact and ended up in the wall, but without injuries after being released from the medical center. Will Power took the opportunity to change his damaged rear wing.

Kanaan preceded Rahal at the restart, and the latter passed the Brazilian at the first corner before seeing the winner of the 500 Indy 2013 regain his position well before the end of the lap. A real crossover then begins between the two rivals before the last two stops.

Power returns to the forefront

Returning to the pits 70 laps from the finish for additional fuel, Will Power then emerged in the lead on the 156th lap with his offbeat strategy. After observing his last pit stop with 23 laps to go, Power is more than four seconds ahead of a trio made up of Alexander Rossi, Tony Kanaan and Josef Newgarden (Team Penske).

The latter will return in the immediate wake of Power, but the Australian will work to break the aspiration of the neo-pilot Penske and winning for the second consecutive year at Pocono. Newgarden, Rossi, Pagenaud, Kanaan, Dixon, Castroneves, Hunter-Reay, Rahal and Carlos Munoz (AJ Foyt Enterprises – Chevrolet) enter the top 10.

Race ranking

Discover the report of the Pocono event, in issue 2128 of AUTOhebdo, available this evening in digital version, and this Wednesday on newsstands.