Power wins at Brazil, re-takes championship lead by 14 points

Power wins at Brazil, re-takes championship lead by 14 points

Team Penske Road Course ace Will Power captured his second win of the 2011 season and repeated his feat from the inaugural Sao Paolo race in 2010. The race was shortened due to weather and postponed from it’s original time on Sunday May 1st. Graham Rahal captured his first podium of the 2011 season with a second place finish, and Ryan Briscoe was third. Rahal currently sits 9th in the championship standings while Briscoe is 5th.

The race was televised live on VERSUS at 8:05 EST and featured a wet track that produced lots of spin offs and passing. Takuma Sato of KV Racing overtook Power on the second restart, and led several laps. When a caution from a Dario Franchitti spin, brought several leaders into the pits, Sato, along with Marco Andretti, and E.J. Viso choose not to pits. Viso quickly got around Andretti and gave KV Racing their first 1-2 combo of the entire year, but it was short lived. Viso was penalized by INDYCAR blocking and received a black flag, forcing him to the tail end of the lead lap. Sato would eventually pit for fuel and Andretti would suffer electrical issues that would force him to pit as well. Power took the lead and held on to win in the time shortened race. Graham Rahal was second, easily his best finish since winning at St. Pete in 2008. Ryan Briscoe backed up his second place effort at Long Beach, with a third place finish.
Full results are below:

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
4. (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

Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 67.442
Time of Race: 02:04:05.2964
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.