LEXINGTON, Ohio—Instead of completing his fourth pass for position, Will Power suddenly found himself spinning on the grass inside of turn 9 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Sunday’s (July 3rd) Honda Indy 200.
In the first green flag lap of racing after a waved-off start, Power was ahead of Christian Lundgaard and lunged to get inside of Takuma Sato at the apex of turn 9. Instead, Power’s car spun after contact with Sato.
RETWEET if you’re watching @IndyCar at @Mid_Ohio!
Pato O’Ward gets things going, and Will Power SPINS!
📺 : @NBC and @PeacockTV
💻 : https://t.co/dYbnJhswam pic.twitter.com/zydMZRCt9N— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) July 3, 2022
The No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet was in last place in the 27-car field, almost four seconds behind Jimmie Johnson. Nearly an hour and 45 minutes later, the Australian racer crossed the finish line in third place behind race winner Scott McLaughlin and second place finisher Alex Palou.
Power started 21st in the 80-lap race around the 13-turn, 2.258 mile road course after being penalized for impeding Helio Castroneves in the first round of qualifying. While the rest of the field qualified, an exasperated Power said that a driver can’t start that far back that many times and get lucky with a good result.
The 2014 IndyCar Series champion moved to 24th place by the time the race’s first full course yellow came out on the race’s ninth lap after Felix Rosenqvist’s car stopped with smoke billowing out of the rear of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.
The Penske crew turned that full course yellow into an opportunity as they brought Power to pit road for his first pit stop. Now without any worries of trying to save fuel with a two-stop strategy, the 2020 Mid-Ohio race one winner could drive flat-out to the finish.
Power was in 25th place on the lap 12 restart and worked his way to 18th place by the time the rest of the field started to make green flag pit stops on lap 23. Power was running in sixth place when he made his next pit stop on lap 30. Shortly after entering the pits, INDYCAR race control called a full course yellow after Kyle Kirkwood went through the gravel trap between turns 8 and 9 and hit the tire barrier.
Kirkwood’s car had been trackside for over a full minute before the full course yellow call came.
With the rest of the field traveling at reduced speed under the full course yellow, Power was able to cycle out of the pits in 12th place that he would have lost had…
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