Momentum was on Will Power’s side when he picked up his third Honda Indy Toronto victory a year ago and it may seem like history is repeating itself.
Power’s rocky start to 2017 is nothing but a thing of the past now. The 36-year-old Australian is now fourth in the Verizon IndyCar Series standings and enters Toronto on another hot streak with four consecutive top-five finishes including a win at Texas.
A fourth victory at the Exhibition Place street course Sunday would help the Team Penske driver narrow the 53-point gap between him and championship leader Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing as the series enters crunch time with just six races remaining on the calendar.
“That would definitely be pretty exciting for me,” said Power, who won the IndyCar Series title in 2014. “It would put me right in the game for the championship. A fourth time would be amazing and that’s what we’ll be trying to do.”
Programming Note: Watch the Honda Indy Toronto live Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on City, Sportsnet 360 and online at Sportsnet NOW.
Before Power can think about closing in on Dixon he’ll have to leapfrog his own Penske teammates Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves. The team’s fourth driver, Josef Newgarden, is also in the mix for the championship and right in Power’s rearview mirror sitting fifth in the standings. While having all four drivers in the title chase may sound like trouble, Power said it’s actually a good problem to have.
“It’s a very good situation just because with all the data available now you learn a lot from each other and it really elevates the performance of the team,” Power said. “We do fight hard on the track, because once we’re on the track we do race each other, but off the track we debrief in the same office after every session and all the information is available to all of us. A big part of making the team competitive is learning off of your teammates.
“At the end of the day, though, those are the guys you’re going to be fighting in the championship. That’s the way it is and you accept that: work hard off the track and fight on the track.”
It may seem like it was yesterday, but Power’s first win in Toronto came a decade ago back in 2007. Power, in his second full Champ Car season with Team Australia, worked his way through the field after starting seventh and had leader Ryan Dalziel in his sights with 17 laps to go. The pivotal pass came near treacherous turn three, where several drivers had already crashed out of the race, but Power made it through clean and never looked back, cruising away for just his second career victory.
That early win still stands out for Power, who now has 31 to his name and is tied for ninth on the all-time list with Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy.
“It was a memorable win for me, it really was,” Power said. “It was a weekend when I had a penalty in qualifying and started at the back a bit and then just had a fantastic race. It was half-wet and drying, so it was difficult conditions, but I really enjoyed that win. It’s still one of my favourites when I think about it.”
While a lot has changed since then — Champ Car unified with IndyCar the following year, the cars are different and even the track has been altered slightly — some things have stayed the same as Power’s teammate that season was Pagenaud.
“He was a good teammate. He was very quick and still is,” said Power, who also raced against Pagenaud in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2005. “It’s amazing we ended up on the same team again.”
Although Power returns to Toronto once again as the defending champ, with three wins under his belt at the track he knows better than anyone that just because one strategy worked one year doesn’t mean it’ll translate to the next.
“I think what you’ve got to be careful of from winning the year before is not being complacent and knowing that year after year it’s different. It requires something different,” Power said. “It’s always a good feeling going into the weekend because we had such a good time here last year, we won, but you’ve got to really put your head down and work at it and know that it’s basically a full reset from the year before.
“It definitely throws a lot of curveballs at you and especially when the weather comes it makes it really interesting,” he added. “I’ve had that quite a few times in Toronto. Great place to race, it always is, and always unpredictable.”
