Takuma Sato came up 10 minutes short of potentially claiming his first IZOD IndyCar Series victory. Will Power said “obrigado.”
Power, the pole sitter and re-start 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 No. 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,” said Power, driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car. “It was a matter of keeping calm, getting past people without making any mistakes and then creating a gap to be safe.”
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 No. 38 Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing car. Ryan Briscoe recorded his second consecutive top five (third) in the No. 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. 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 8:05 a.m. (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, Fla.—won by Power.
Results Monday of the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 2.536 mile Sao Paulo Street Circuit, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
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.
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