Will Power

Will Power
Will Power at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2009.
Nationality	Australian
IRL IndyCar Series career
Debut season	2008
Current team	Team Penske
Car number	12
Former teams	KV Racing Technology
Starts	25
Wins	3
Poles	2
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	12th in 2008

Will Power
Champ Car World Series
Years active	2005-2007
Teams	Team Australia
Starts	30
Wins	3
Poles	4
Best finish	4th in 2007
Previous series
2003-2004 2005 2005/2006	British F3 World Series by Renault A1GP
Awards
2006	Champ Car Rookie of the Year

Will Power (born March 1, 1981 in Toowoomba, Queensland) is an Australian motorsport driver, who currently competes in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series, driving for Team Penske.

Australian racing

Power started his career in Queensland driving a Datsun 1200 at Morgan Park Raceway, Warwick as well as at Carnel Raceway, Stanthorpe. At 15 years of age Will started his professional career in a Formula Ford car in the Australian Formula Ford championship.

He won the 2002 Australian Drivers' Championship by winning 7 times and achieving 3 pole positions.

Racing in Europe

He 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.

Champ Car

In 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. 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 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.

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.

IndyCar

Will Power competing in the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500

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.. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. Power had an excellent start to the 2010 season by winning the season opening race in Brazil, making history in IndyCar.

Motorsports career results

Junior Series

(Races in bold indicate pole position)

Series	Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Team	Final Pos	Points
Australian Formula Ford Championship	2000	Robert Power	PHI1 UNK	BAR1 UNK	EAS1 Ret	PHI3 UNK	QUE1 8	ORP1 8	CAL1 UNK	MAL1 Ret						Robert Power	7th	94
			PHI2 UNK	BAR2 UNK	EAS2 4	PHI4 UNK	QUE2 4	ORP2 11	CAL2 UNK	MAL2 13
Australian Formula Ford Championship	2001	Power Racing	PHI1 2	EAS1 1	BAR1 2	CAL1 UNK	ORP1 UNK	MAL1 2	QUE1 4	SAN1 UNK						Power Racing	2nd	210
			PHI2 1	ECR2 1	BAR2 3	CAL2 UNK	ORP2 UNK	MAL2 1	QUE2 4	SAN2 Canc
Australian Drivers' Championship	2002	Ralt Australia	PHI1 1	ECR1 2	HDV1 Ret	ORP1 1	MAL1 1	WIN1 1								Ralt Australia	1st	197
			PHI2 1	ECR2 2		ORP2 1	MAL2 2	WIN2 1
Australian Formula 3 Championship	2002	Cooltemp Racing			ORP1 1	WIN1 1	WAK1 2	SAN1 6	PHI1 2	SUR1 1						Cooltemp Racing	2nd	204
					ORP2 1	WIN2 1	WAK2 2	SAN2 4	PHI2 3	SUR2 1
British F3	2003	Diamond Racing	DON1 15	SNE1 Ret	CRO1	KNO1	SIL1	CAC1 5	OUP1 12	ROC1 5	THX1 Ret	SPA1 4	DON3 Ret	BRH1 Ret		Fortec Motorsport	14th	40
			DON2 23	SNE2 Ret	CRO2	KNO2	SIL2	CAC2 12	OUP2 9	ROC2 15	THX2 2	SPA2 12	DON4 11	BRH2 17
British F3	2004	Alan Docking Racing	DON1 Ret	SIL1 2	CRO1 15	KNO1 2	SNE1 10	SNE3 3	CAC1 6	DON1 Ret	OUP1 12	SIL1 4	THX1 10	SPA1 8	BRH1 Ret	Alan Docking Racing	9th	111
			DON2 4	SIL2 Canc	CRO2 Ret	KNO2 2	SNE2 3		CAC2 13	DON2 10	OUP2 Ret	SIL2 6	THX2 18	SPA2 9	BRH2 9
World Series by Renault	2005	Carlin Motorsport	ZOL1 DNS	MON1 12	VAL1 3	BUG1 4	BIL1 2	OSH1 Ret	DON1 13	EST1 10	MNZ1					Carlin Motorsport	7th	64
			ZOL2 Ret		VAL2 14	BUG2 1	BIL2 1	OSH2 14	DON2 Ret	EST2 12	MNZ2

A1GP

Series	Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Team	Rank	Points
A1GP	2005/06	AUS	BRH1 4	LAU1	EST1	ECR1	SEP1	DUB1	DUR1	SEN1	MON1	LAG1	SHA1	AUS	13th	51
			BRH2 2	LAU2	EST2	ECR2	SEP2	DUB2	DUR2	SEN2	MON2	LAG2	SHA2

American Open-Wheel

(key)

Year	Series	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2005	CCWS	Walker	LBH	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	LVG	SRF Ret	MXC 10							22nd	17
2006	CCWS	Walker	LBH 9	HOU 7	MTY 11	MIL Ret	POR 18	CLE 9	TOR 7	EDM 6	SJO 6	DEN 4	MTL 5	ROA 13	SRF 12	MXC 3						6th	213
2007	CCWS	Walker	LVG 1	LBH 3	HOU 11	POR 4	CLE 10	MTT 3	TOR 1	EDM Ret	SJO 4	ROA Ret	ZOL 4	ASN 14	SRF Ret	MXC 2						4th	262
2008	IndyCar	KV	HMS Ret	STP 8	MOT1	LBH1 1	KAN Ret	INDY 13	MIL 14	TXS 13	IOW 9	RIR Ret	WGL 15	NSH 11	MDO 4	EDM 22	KTY Ret	SNM 25	DET 8	CHI 5	SRF2 Ret	12th	331
2009	IndyCar	Penske	STP 6	LBH 2	KAN	INDY 5	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	TOR 3	EDM 1	KTY 9	MDO	SNM DNS	CHI	MOT	HMS			19th	215
2010	IndyCar	Penske	SAO 1	STP	ALA	LBH	KAN	INDY	TXS	IOW	WGL	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM	CHI	KTY	MOT	HMS			1st*	50

* Season in progress.

¹ Run on same day.

² Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
2	2	23	2	3	2	8	0	0

Indianapolis 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team	Note
2008	Dallara	Honda	23	13	KVRT	Completed every lap
2009	Dallara	Honda	9	5	Penske	Completed every lap

Overall Stats

Series	Seasons	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Point Finishes (Non-podium)	Teams	Total Points	Championships	Best Finish (Championship)
Formula Ford	2	28	0	4	5	9	1	304	0	2nd (2001)
Formula Holden	1	11	5	7	3	0	1	197	1	1st (2002)
Australian F3	1	12	unk	6	4	2	1	204	0	2nd (2002)
V8Supercar	1	2	0	0	0	2	1	82	0	46th (2002)
British F3	2	42	0	0	6	14	3	151	0	9th (2004)
World Series by Renault	1	15	3	2	2	4	1	64	0	7th (2005)
A1GP	1	2	0	0	1	1	1	16	0	13th (2005/06)
CCWS	3	30	4	2	4	24	1	492	0	4th (2007)
IRL	2	19	2	1	1	12	1	331	0	12th (2008)

Complete through 2008.

External links

• Team Australia Official Site
• Official Site