Power ends drought as Penske delivers 1-2

Will Power has shaken off a mediocre season by steaming to his first win in the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series in Race 2 at Detroit’s Belle Isle circuit.

Power set-up victory by pulling off a brilliant outside pass on series leader Simon Pagenaud who completed a Team Penske quinella.

Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay was in close attendance to claim the final podium spot.

The 2014 IndyCar Series champion ended a 13-month losing streak to record a 26th career victory and move up five positions in the points standings to be seventh.

Power took the lead with nine laps remaining as the last of the leaders were forced to pit for fuel.

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The race changed complexion when Pagenaud exited the pits just as a full course caution was triggered for a stranded Jack Hawksworth (AJ Foyt) on the back straight with 20 laps of 70 to go.

The incident was ill-timed for leader Helio Castroneves who was ready to follow Pagenaud’s service.

The #3 crew then called Castroneves called in while the field was still under Safety Car conditions on lap 52. He eventually finished 14th.

It left Race 1 winner Sebastien Bourdais (KV Racing) in front with 18 laps remaining as the field was restarted.

Bourdais eventually finished eighth after he was called into the pits with 10 laps remaining for a 7.6s fuel stop.

Crucially Power made a move soon after it was waved green, passing Pagenaud on the outside to claim fifth and the effective race lead with the lead four all facing another splash and dash to make the finish.

“On the restart I really had to capitilise otherwise I wasn’t going to win so I went around the outside (of Pagenaud),” Power said.

“It gives the whole crew some confidence. The group has been stumbling. We missed the first race (St Petersburg) and we had a few mishaps.”

Josef Newgarden (Ed Carpenter Racing) held out Scott Dixon (Ganassi), who did a super job considering he encountered several problems, for fourth.

Conor Daly was sixth ahead of Tony Kanaan while Marco Andretti and Takuma Sato were ninth and 10th.

Earlier the second caution period flew when Juan Montoya (Team Penske) crashed into the outside wall on his outlap at the halfway point.

Kanaan elected to pit under the Safety Car while Pagenaud remained out in front ahead of Castroneves.

Montoya and Power resumed their ferocious battle which started in the opening race when the former took seventh place off the Australian in the early running.

On a charge Montoya proceeded to pick off more placings to move to fifth.

Then Montoya and Dixon made contact going into Turn 7, forcing both drivers into the pits for repairs.

The incident was reviewed by stewards however deemed the contact a racing incident.

The race began with a mid-pack Turn 1 crash when James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt-Peterson) was escorted into the wall by Carlos Munoz (Andretti Autosport) who had pressure from Charlie Kimball (Ganassi).

Hinchcliffe was immediately scathing of Munoz saying: “Carlos was an idiot and he just drives me straight into the wall.”

But after seeing the replay he tweeted an apology which read: ‘Having seen the replay, I apologise to @CarlosMunoz034. Wasn’t his fault. He was forced into me. Lost my temper, I know better. Sorry guys.’

Max Chilton (Ganassi) and Takuma Sato (AJ Foyt) were also caught up in the melee.

VIDEO: Race wrap

See below for full results

1	Will Power	Dallara/Chevrolet	70	1:42:22.26
2	Simon Pagenaud	Dallara/Chevrolet	70	0.92
3	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Dallara/Honda	70	1.47
4	Josef Newgarden	Dallara/Chevrolet	70	2.46
5	Scott Dixon	Dallara/Chevrolet	70	3.15
6	Conor Daly	Dallara/Honda	70	7.12
7	Tony Kanaan	Dallara/Chevrolet	70	11.30
8	Sebastien Bourdais	Dallara/Chevrolet	70	12.93
9	Marco Andretti	Dallara/Honda	70	26.42
10	Takuma Sato	Dallara/Honda	70	27.71
11	Graham Rahal	Dallara/Honda	70	28.04
12	Alexander Rossi	Dallara/Honda	70	28.55
13	Gabby Chaves	Dallara/Honda	70	29.25
14	Helio Castroneves	Dallara/Chevrolet	70	29.66
15	Carlos Munoz	Dallara/Honda	70	30.48
16	Charlie Kimball	Dallara/Chevrolet	70	30.69
17	Mikhail Aleshin	Dallara/Honda	70	1:10.52
18	Spencer Pigot	Dallara/Chevrolet	67	3 Laps
19	Jack Hawksworth	Dallara/Honda	48	Mechanical
20	Juan Pablo Montoya	Dallara/Chevrolet	33	Contact
21	James Hinchcliffe	Dallara/Honda	0	Contact
22	Max Chilton	Dallara/Chevrolet	0	Contact

Points standings

1 Simon Pagenaud 357 2 Scott Dixon 277 3 Helio Castroneves 271 4 Josef Newgarden 259 5 Alexander Rossi 242 6 Carlos Munoz 242 7 Will Power 240 8 Tony Kanaan 240 9 Juan Pablo Montoya 233 10 Charlie Kimball 227 11 James Hinchcliffe 226 12 Graham Rahal 225 13 Ryan Hunter-Reay 224 14 Sebastien Bourdais 210 15 Conor Daly 177 16 Takuma Sato 173 17 Marco Andretti 166 18 Mikhail Aleshin 155 19 Max Chilton 139 20 Jack Hawksworth 110 21 J.R. Hildebrand 84 22 Gabby Chaves 81 23 Spencer Pigot 75 24 Oriol Servia 72 25 Townsend Bell 55 26 Luca Filippi 45 27 Matthew Brabham 37 28 Alex Tagliani 35 29 Pippa Mann 33 30 Ed Carpenter 33 31 Sage Karam 22 32 Bryan Clauson 21 33 Stefan Wilson 14 34 Buddy Lazier 12