Will Power

Infobox racing driver
name = Will Power


pixels =
caption =
nationality = AUS
date of birth =
place of birth =
related to =
current series = IRL IndyCar Series
first year = 2008
current team = KV Racing Technology
car number = 8
former teams =
starts = 17
wins = 1
poles = 0
fastest laps = 0
best finish = 12th
year = 2008Infobox racing driver
last series = Champ Car World Series
years active = 2005-2007
teams = Team Australia
starts = 30
wins = 3
podium finishes = 6
poles = 4
fastest laps =
best finish = 4th
year = 2007
prev series = British F3
WSBR
A1GP
prev series years = 2003-2004
2005
2005/2006
titles =
title years =
awards = Champ Car Rookie of the Year
award years = 2006

Will Power (born March 1, 1981 in Toowoomba, Queensland) is an Australian motorsport driver, who currently competes in the IndyCar Series.

Australian racing

Power started his career driving a 15 year old Formula Ford car in the Australian Formula Ford championship.

He won the 2002 Australian Drivers' Championship [ [http://www.camsmanual.com.au/pdf/records/1402_CAMS_Gold_Star_Q108.pdf CAMS Online Manual of Motor Sport] ] by winning 7 times and achieving 3 pole positions. [ [http://www.f4000.com/thecars.htm The Series - The Cars] Australian Formula 4000 Championship]

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. [ [http://www.speedsportmag.de/racing/statresults.php?sprache=en&back=formulanissan&sid=173 2005 Formula Renault 3.5 World Series Complete Qualifying and Race Results] SpeedSport Magazine] 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 [ [http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Results/Awards.asp 2006 Roshfrans Rookie Of The Year Standings] Champ Car World Series] 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. [cite press release |url=http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=11009 |title=CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT WITH 2006 SERIES CHAMPION SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS |date=October 22, 2006 |accessdate=2006-10-22 |publisher=Champ Car World Series]

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

The merger of Champ Car and the IRL left his future uncertain. Unrelated to this, his Walker Racing team announced they would not be making the switch from Champ Car to IRL due to lack of sponsorship. [ [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/racing/wires/03/09/3010.ap.car.irl.open.wheel.merger.walker.1st.ld.writethru.0225/ Walker Racing won't be making switch from Champ Car to IndyCar Series] , Associated Press, March 9, 2008] . 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 [ [http://www.indycar.com/news/story.php?story_id=10666/Servia, Power join KV Racing Technology in series] , Indycar.com, March 12, 2008] .

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.

Motorsports Career Results

Junior Series

(Races in bold indicate pole position)

IndyCar

Complete through 2007.

References

External links

* [http://www.teamaustraliamotorsport.com.au Team Australia Official Site]