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Will Power (born March 1, 1981 in Toowoomba, Queensland) is an Australian motorsport driver, who currently competes in the IndyCar Series.
[edit] Australian racingPower started his career driving a 15 year old Formula Ford car in the Australian Formula Ford championship. He won the 2002 Australian Drivers' Championship[1] by winning 7 times and achieving 3 pole positions.[2] [edit] Racing in EuropeHe tested a Minardi Formula One car in 2004 with fellow Australian Will Davison in Italy. During 2005 he competed in the World Series by Renault for the Carlin Motorsport team, where he proved very competitive. During the course of the WSR championship he scored 2 race victories, with 4 trips to the podium in total and qualified his car on the front row 5 times. In addition to driving in the WSR, Power was also one of the featured drivers for the Australian team in the 2005-06 A1 Grand Prix series. Power raced in the series opener at Brands Hatch and piloted Australia to a second place finish behind Team Brazil. [edit] Champ CarIn late 2005 he joined Champ Car Team Australia at the Lexmark Indy 300 event at Surfers Paradise in Australia, which also resulted in his departure from the World Series by Renault championship even though that season was still in progress and Power ultimately ended seventh in the championship.[3] In the Indy 300 Power ran strongly until being knocked off the track by team mate Alex Tagliani. After the Surfers Paradise event he signed a multi year contract to race for the team, which began immediately at the next Champ Car round in Mexico City after Tagliani's teammate Marcus Marshall was released for what was described as a "serious breach of contract". Power drove full time for Team Australia in 2006. He performed well throughout the season with nine top ten finishes and strong qualifying results. At Mexico, the final round of the season, Power took his first podium finish in Champ Car. He won the "rookie of the year" award[4] and finished in 6th place in the championship standings. In his home race in 2006, at Surfers Paradise in Australia, he scored his first pole position of his career in Champ Cars, in front of his home crowd. However, contact from Paul Tracy in pit lane and then an ambitious overtaking move by Sébastien Bourdais resulted in a bent left steering arm, and he fell to the back, one lap down by the time the car was repaired, eventually finishing 12th.[5] On 8 April 2007, Power won his first Champ Car race at the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, held in the streets of Las Vegas. He qualified on pole position and led most laps, becoming the first Australian driver to win in the series. On July 8th, at the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto, with rain pouring down and visibility near zero when he got behind other cars, Will Power decided it was time to get aggressive. The Australian drove from fourth to first in 14 laps, finally splashing past rookie Ryan Dalziel to take the lead with 23 minutes to go, and went on to an easy victory. To get to the lead, Power also had to pass three-time Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais and rookie Neel Jani. Thanks to a series of late caution flags, he was able to go after each of them in turn. "I was close behind Sebastien and I knew he was quite tentative in the wet and I attacked him," Power said. "I got him on a restart. Then the next restart, I got Neel and the next restart, I got Dalziel. It's just about being aggressive at the right time and not hitting anyone". "I just drove so hard here because we've just had so much bad luck in the last few races," said Power, whose first Champ Car victory came in the 2007 opener in Las Vegas. "I didn't care; I just went hard. The car was good in the wet. It was good in the dry, and we stuck it to them." Power had podium finishes at Long Beach, Mont-Tremblant and Mexico City and pole positions at Houston, Edmonton, Surfers Paradise and Mexico City to place fourth in the final point standings in 2007. [edit] IndyCar The merger of Champ Car and the IRL left his future uncertain. Power's Walker Racing team announced they would not be making the switch from Champ Car to IRL due to lack of sponsorship.[6]. However, Power later signed with KV Racing Technology, to drive the No. 8 Aussie Vineyards—Team Australia car in 2008, continuing to work with Team Australia boss Craig Gore[7]. Power won the final Champ Car race at Long Beach in 2008, also giving Power his first IndyCar Series win. He scored two top-five finishes in IndyCar Series races, enough for 12th overall, outpointed by team-mate Oriol Servia. In the non-points event in Surfers' Paradise, Australia, Power won the pole position, but crashed out while leading the race. Penske Racing announced on January 13, 2009 that for the 2009 IndyCar Series season, Power would replace Helio Castroneves at the helm of the #3 Team Penske Honda-Dallara while Castroneves attended to his federal tax evasion charges.[8] Power finished sixth in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the first race of the year. Since Castroneves returned to the team for the Long Beach Grand Prix, the second race of the season, Power was entered in that race and the Indianapolis 500 with a third #12 Penske car.[9] He finished in fifth place in the 2009 Indy 500 for Penske and was retained by the team to drive in five more races during the second half of the season, his team being crewed by Penske's Rolex Sports Car Series team on their off weekends. Power captured his first IndyCar race win for Penske in July at the Rexall Edmonton Indy. During practice for the 2009 Motorola Indy 300 in Sonoma, Nelson Philippe spun exiting Turn 3 and stalled on the track. EJ Viso could barely avoid him but Power had nowhere to go and crashed into the stationary Frenchman. Power had two fractured vertebrae while Nelson Phillipe had a fractured ankle. Both were also concussed and were hospitalized. Because of his injuries, Power will miss the rest of 2009 season. [10] On Nov. 19th, 2009, Team Penske announced that Will Power would join the team full time for the 2010 season with sponsorship from Verizon Wireless. [edit] Motorsports career results[edit] Junior Series(Races in bold indicate pole position) [edit] A1GP
[edit] American Open-Wheel(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) [edit] Champ Car
[edit] IndyCar
[edit] Indianapolis 500 results
[edit] Overall Stats
Complete through 2008. [edit] References
[edit] External links
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