Will Power continued his mid-season domination of Indycar racing with Team Penske at Infineon Raceway (formerly Sears Point) in California last Sunday. Power took his eighth pole and led all the way to score his fifth win of the year. In the last five races the Australian has won three times and finished second twice, and with four rounds to go Power leads the IndyCar Series championship by 59 points from Dario Franchitti, with Scott Dixon another 36 points behind. Dixon and Franchitti finished second and third at Infineon.
Twelve months ago Power broke his back in a nasty accident during qualifying for this race. The accident brought an end to his year, but he’s bounced back in style this season, his first as a full-time driver for Penske. “It’s unreal,” he said. “What a perfect weekend. A year ago [I was] lying in hospital watching this race. I can’t thank Roger Penske and his team enough for giving me this fantastic opportunity. I’m just so happy.”
Infineon was the last in a run of five road and street circuits. The remaining four races, starting at the Chicagoland Speedway next Saturday night, are all on oval tracks and Power has yet to win a race on an oval. “I’m going for it,” grinned Will. “I want to win this thing. I’m not going to be sitting back. I’m not going to be stupid, but I want to win the championship.”
Veteran Penske crewman Clive Howell calls the shots on Power’s car and he is confident his driver is not only going to score his first oval victory this year, but prevail in the championship battle with defending champion Franchitti and 2008 title winner Dixon. “It’s going to be fun,” said Howell. “He’s going to shake that monkey. He’s going to be fine.”
Congratulations must also go to Brits Johnny Cocker and Paul Drayson on their excellent first American Le Mans Series win aboard Drayson’s Lola B09/80-Judd V10 at Elkhart Lake last Sunday. Cocker put the Lola-Judd on pole for the second time this year, then led the early laps and took over from Drayson for the final stint to win in style. After a late fuel stop Cocker went from fourth to first in the final laps, passing Chris Dyson’s Lola-Mazda, David Brabham’s Highcroft HPD ARX-01a and Klaus Graf’s Porsche RS Spyder.
It was a great performance by Cocker and an exciting finish with four different car/engine combinations fighting it out – a perfect advertisement for the ALMS. “I was flat out,” said Cocker. “That was the first time I went flat through the kink in the race. But it’s worth the risk. It’s unbelievable, just fantastic.”
The ALMS races again at Mosport next weekend, followed five weeks later by the season-closing Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. The Audi and Peugeot teams will add spice to the Petit Le Mans, where the ALMS expects a record field of more than 50 cars.
