Published on: http://www.ontherecord-unisa.com.au/?p=2127

Australian IndyCar driver Will Power claimed his first win of the season to take the win in Sunday’s IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.

The Australian driver started from ninth on the grid, but a mixture of misfortune and forceful tactics from Scott Dixon in the final cycle of pitstops helped Power to first place.

Before the final round of stops, Dixon had the lead on Power.

After losing time behind Simona de Silvestro, Dixon suffered a slow pitstop, having to wait for EJ Viso’s car to move before he could be released back into pit lane.

The time lost was enough for Power to take the lead.

With Dixon’s tyres fading away, Power’s chances looked promising from then on.

Scott Dixon ended up finishing second, with Helio Castroneves rounding out the top three.

This race was a good demonstration of the strategic elements of IndyCar racing, with the combination of overtaking, passing and pit stops making for constant position changes throughout the 90-lap race.

The biggest mover of the race was Dario Franchitti, who managed to cross the line in tenth place after starting eighteenth.

Rubens Barrichello also took a step forward in his adaptation from Formula 1 to IndyCar by finishing in eighth position.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                           Time/Gap

1.  Will Power           Penske DW12-Chevrolet         2h01m40.1127s

2.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi DW12-Honda                + 3.3709s

3.  Helio Castroneves    Penske DW12-Chevrolet            + 19.1150s

4.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi DW12-Honda               + 19.3395s

5.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda      + 20.1050s

6.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti DW12-Chevrolet          + 23.3093s

7.  Mike Conway          Foyt DW12-Honda                  + 24.5552s

8.  Rubens Barrichello   KV DW12-Chevrolet                + 25.4023s

9.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon DW12-Lotus                + 27.1815s

10.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi DW12-Honda               + 32.7377s

11.  Marco Andretti       Andretti DW12-Chevrolet          + 33.5038s

12.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti DW12-Chevrolet          + 35.8730s

13.  Oriol Servia         Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus     + 37.8944s

14.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske DW12-Chevrolet            + 41.6742s

15.  JR Hildebrand        Panther DW12-Chevrolet           + 44.5059s

16.  James Jakes          Coyne DW12-Honda                 + 54.5343s

17.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher DW12-Honda              + 1m00.6182s

18.  EJ Viso              KV DW12-Chevrolet                   + 1 lap

19.  Justin Wilson        Coyne DW12-Honda                    + 1 lap

20.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM DW12-Lotus                      + 1 lap

21.  Tony Kanaan          KV DW12-Chevrolet                   + 1 lap

22.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet           + 2 laps

23.  Katherine Legge      Dragon DW12-Lotus                  + 5 laps

DNF (Did Not Finish):

Takuma Sato          Rahal DW12-Honda                    52 laps

Charlie Kimball      Ganassi DW12-Honda                45 laps

Alex Tagliani        BHA DW12-Lotus                       0 laps