|
Monday, 02 May 2011 02:00 |
|
Page 1 of 2  Takuma Sato came up 10 minutes short of potentially claiming his first IZOD IndyCar Series victory, but it was Will Power that said "obrigado".
Power, the pole sitter and restart leader of the rain postponed Itaipava São Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle, came into the pits for a splash of fuel on Lap 36.
Sato, who overtook Power on a Lap 25 restart, gambled on stretching the 22 gallons of 100 percent fuel grade ethanol, but the yellow flag sought didn't materialize and the #5 KV Racing Technology-Lotus car had to pit on Lap 48 of 55 in the timed race.
Power inherited the point and went on to his second victory of the season and the championship points lead.
"Being on pole four times and had two wins is a great start. It was a matter of keeping calm, getting past people without making any mistakes and then creating a gap to be safe," said Power, driver of the #12 Verizon Team Penske car.
Graham Rahal, who spun on the slippery rain soaked course on Lap 26 while running sixth, finished second, his best since placing third at Twin Ring Motegi in 2009, in the #38 Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing car.
Ryan Briscoe recorded his second consecutive top five (third) in the #6 Penske Logistics car.
Dario Franchitti also recovered from a slide in Turn 1 on Lap 33 to finish fourth, Oriol Servia was fifth, Mike Conway made up a lap to finish sixth and Justin Wilson was seventh and Takuma Sato wound up eighth.
Poor visibility on the 2.536 mile, 11 turn street course caused by persistent rain and approaching dusk forced postponement of the race until 08h05 (ET). The scheduled 75 lap race resumed on Lap 15.
There was 1 hour, 19 minutes, 14 seconds remaining in the two hour race window. The previous IZOD IndyCar Series race postponed because of weather was in March 2010 at St. Petersburg, Florida, won by Power.
ITAIPAVA SAO PAULO INDY 300 PRESENTED BY NESTLE POST RACE NOTES:
- This is Will Power's second win of 2011 and the 11th win of his Indy car career. He also won at Barber Motorsports Park earlier this year.
- Will Power won in Sao Paulo for the second consecutive season.
- Graham Rahal finished second, his best finish of 2011 and his best finish since finishing third at Twin Ring Motegi in 2009.
- Ryan Briscoe finished third, his second consecutive podium finish. He finished second at Long Beach on April 17.
- Dario Franchitti finished fourth. He is the only driver to finish in the top five in every race in 2011.
- Oriol Servia finished fifth, his second top five of the season.
- Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidates James Hinchcliffe (9th) and JR Hildebrand (10th) finished in the top 10. It is Hinchcliffe's second straight top 10 and Hildebrand's career best finish.
ITAIPAVA SAO PAULO INDY 300 PRESENTED BY NESTLE RACE STATISTICS:
Winners average speed: 67.442
Time of Race: 02h04'05.2964
Margin of victory: 4.6723 seconds
Cautions: 6 for 21 laps
Lead changes: 2 among 3 drivers
Lap Leaders: Power 1 - 25, Sato 26-48, Power 49-55
Point Standings: Power 168, Franchitti 154, Servia 110, Conway 102, Briscoe 101, Kanaan 99, Tagliani 85, Dixon 84, Rahal 82, Sato 80.
ITAIPAVA SAO PAULO INDY 300 PRESENTED BY NESTLE POST RACE RESULTS:
| Pos. |
Started |
Driver |
Car |
Laps |
Status |
| 1. |
1 |
Will Power |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 2. |
5 |
Graham Rahal |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 3. |
4 |
Ryan Briscoe |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 4. |
6 |
Dario Franchitti |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 5. |
16 |
Oriol Servia |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 6. |
9 |
Mike Conway |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 7. |
8 |
Justin Wilson |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 8. |
10 |
Takuma Sato |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 9. |
11 |
James Hinchcliffe |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 10. |
22 |
JR Hildebrand |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 11. |
23 |
Sebastian Saavedra |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 12. |
3 |
Scott Dixon |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 13. |
26 |
EJ Viso |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 14. |
15 |
Marco Andretti |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 15. |
24 |
James Jakes |
Dallara-Honda |
55 |
Running |
| 16. |
18 |
Charlie Kimball |
Dallara-Honda |
54 |
Running |
| 17. |
14 |
Vitor Meira |
Dallara-Honda |
53 |
Running |
| 18. |
2 |
Ryan Hunter-Reay |
Dallara-Honda |
50 |
Running |
| 19. |
20 |
Alex Tagliani |
Dallara-Honda |
48 |
Running |
| 20. |
13 |
Simona de Silvestro |
Dallara-Honda |
46 |
Running |
| 21. |
7 |
Helio Castroneves |
Dallara-Honda |
46 |
Running |
| 22. |
21 |
Tony Kanaan |
Dallara-Honda |
46 |
Running |
| 23. |
17 |
Danica Patrick |
Dallara-Honda |
46 |
Running |
| 24. |
25 |
Ana Beatriz |
Dallara-Honda |
31 |
Mechanical |
| 25. |
19 |
Raphael Matos |
Dallara-Honda |
28 |
Contact |
| 26. |
12 |
Sebastien Bourdais |
Dallara-Honda |
20 |
Contact |
|
NEWS by SERIES 
Please show support
