MOTORSPORT: Power’s Indy title chances blow out
Aussie’s season has gone from chocolates to boiled lollies in just four weeksAustralia’s Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power’s chances of repeating his 2014 IndyCar series title victory have become much harder — perhaps impossible — after he completed only two laps of the latest round at Road America.
Power said “there was something amiss” from the moment he started warming up his Team Penske Dallara-Chevrolet for the race after qualifying alongside teammate and reigning series champion Josef Newgarden at the 6.46km circuit at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
“I have no clue. They replaced the exhaust and it still didn’t take,” he said.
While Power was the only retirement in the field of 23, Newgarden led all but two laps to claim his third victory of the season ahead of fellow American Ryan Hunter-Reay in a Honda-powered Andretti Autosports entry. New Zealander Scott Dixon was third in another Honda-engined car for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Power led the series after his historic Indianapolis victory four weeks ago but had slipped to third before the recent two-week break in the series.
He’s now fifth, 65 points behind four-time champion Dixon, last year’s winner at Road America and who said he “could have had a good shot at trying to fight for the win” again if he hadn’t qualified eighth – his worst starting position in five races at the circuit.
Hunter-Reay and Andretti teammate Alexander Rossi are now Dixon’s main challengers for the title, the Americans both with 348 points to Dixon’s 393. Newgarden is fourth on 343, Power next on 328.
The Indy 500 carried double points as does the season finale at Sonoma in California in mid-September, but all other races are worth 50 points for the win, with a bonus point for pole position and the fastest race lap and two bonus points for leading the most laps.
Unlike Power, Newgarden said his “Team Chevy engine made the difference” at Road America.
“I had the fuel mileage that I needed, good power, good reliability,” he said.
It was Team Penske’s 202nd win in 51 years of IndyCar competition and its fifth at Road America.
The 11th of the 17 races in the series is at Iowa Speedway on July 8.
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