Will Power has stormed to a famous victory despite a late charge at the ABC Supply 500 around the Pocono Raceway, after a thoroughly entertaining and frantic 200-lap race around the 2.5-mile ‘Tricky Triangle’.
The race had been postponed from Sunday afternoon after heavy rain hit the track several hours before the scheduled start time.
Power initially started the race from eighth on the grid and during the opening few stints was thought to be out of contention for the win.
During this phase of the race pole man Mikhail Aleshin traded the lead with the likes of Josef Newgarden and the Andretti Autosport of Ryan Hunter-Reay.
But after Team Penske continued to make adjustments to Power’s car the Australian racer soon found himself in the lead of the race and with a perfect opportunity to secure his fourth victory of the season after a late caution caused by championship leader and team-mate Simon Pagenaud.
The Frenchman, who struggled for the majority of the race and only led briefly during one of the many green flag pit-stop windows, slammed into the wall with just under fifty laps remaining after his car bottomed-out shortly after a pit-stop.
Power ended the thrilling race just over a second ahead of Russian racer Aleshin, who dropped down the order briefly during the final phase of the race before managing to muscle his way back to the front.
Hunter-Reay was arguably the driver of the day, with the 2013 champion starting the race from 22nd and last on the grid after a hefty crash during practice on Saturday.
It took Hunter-Reay under 50 laps to rise from 22nd to lead the race, displaying fearsome pace behind the wheel of his Honda-powered car. He looked on course to challenge Power and Aleshin for victory, however a brief mechanical blip saw him lose a whole lap to the rest of the field.
But that didn’t stop him as he persevered and utilised the fourth and final caution for debris to his advantage, regaining the lap he had lost to the rest of the field by pitting out of sync and then scything through the field like a hot knife through butter.
Although Hunter-Reay was unable to challenge Power and Aleshin again, he enjoyed frenetic battles with the likes of Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Dixon to rise back up into third position at the chequered flag.
Newgarden came home a respectable fourth, ahead of another late charger in the form of Sebastien Bourdais. The Frenchman gained several positions during the final pit-stop under caution by electing to just take on fuel.
Reigning champion Dixon could only manage sixth for Chip Ganassi Racing, after qualifying a rather uncompetitive 19th on the grid. However, the Kiwi’s immense oval knowledge enabled him to steadily rise through the order and even lead several laps during the various pit-stops.
Carlos Munoz ended seventh despite running as high as second during one stage of the race. The Columbian racer came home ahead of fellow countryman Montoya, who enjoyed several last lap skirmishes with the likes of Graham Rahal and James Hinchcliffe.
Tony Kanaan was also a late charger, rising up to second momentarily after the final caution period before dropping down the order considerably in the final few laps.
Meanwhile Hinchcliffe rounded out the top ten for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, ahead of Rahal and Marco Andretti.
The first caution of the race occurred after only one racing lap, when Takuma Sato spun heavily into the wall and destroyed his A.J. Foyt Enterprises machine. The Japanese racer had qualified a competitive third on the grid, with a decent result on the cards.
The second caution period came some 50 laps later when Alexander Rossi and Charlie Kimball made contact in the pits. The ensuing melee launched Rossi into the air, with the Indianapolis 500 race winner landing awkwardly on the Penske of Helio Castroneves.
Thankfully no-one was injured, although both Rossi and Castroneves were eliminated on the spot with Rossi later being penalised for causing the skirmish.
After such an enthralling race Pagenaud’s lead in the drivers’ championship has been depleted down to just 20 points to Power after his illustrious victory at Pocono.
