A mistake typing-in gear ratios by a Penske engineer was a decisive factor in hindering Will Power from fighting for victory in the first IndyCar race of the weekend at Road America.
Power came to the fore in the third race of the season, after a difficult opening two rounds. He had a wheel come off while in his pit stall at Texas and then an ill-timed caution pushed him way down the order at Indianapolis after he’d started the race on pole.
At Road America he dropped out of the top 10 in the first half of race, but executed an undercut to take the lead as a stall in a pitstop hindered Power’s Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden – who dominated the early stages and forfeited a nine-second lead.
Power led Scott Dixon until a late caution when a right-rear tyre wouldn’t come off Power’s car in the pits, dropping him behind Dixon who scarpered away to make it three out of three wins to start the season.
Having complained on the radio about it earlier in the race, Power claimed the second gear was pivotal in stopping him from being able to retake the lead after the pitstop issue, and he had to settle for second ahead of star rookie Alex Palou.
“It was simply a mistake,” said Power, whose team-mates appeared unaffected.
“My engineer was just typing it in. This guy never makes mistakes.
“He just happened to type the wrong number in. He has no clue how it happened because he gave my gears to Newgarden.
“It was a wrong gear ratio, second gear, which made it very tough for us. A very, very tall gear. A rare mistake honestly by my engineer because he never, ever makes mistakes.”
Power and Dixon don’t fight for the win on track often. While leading Dixon, Power said on the radio that Dixon would have to crash in to him in order to pass, not long after the two had almost touched fighting at Turn 6.
Later, Dixon appeared to touch Power’s rear-left wheel entering pit road before the pair swapped positions after Power’s pitstop.
However Ganassi driver Dixon was happy with the “heated battle”.
“I was chatting to Will after the race, just how big the undercut was,” said Dixon.
“When I came out, we were racing, the teams we were racing for the lead, I thought they got the timing and scoring wrong.
“It was definitely a heated battle. It was fun to race Will there out of the pits, Turn 5 and Turn 6.
“I thought Turn 6 both of us actually weren’t going to make the corner.
“It was good, close racing. Then we had that really tidy last pit where the crew just nailed it, honestly jumped to the lead there.
“Pretty mixed emotion today. Very unexpected, but just shows the depth of the team and what they were able to do throughout the day.”
After three straight wins to start the season, Dixon leads the championship by 62 points from Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, who started 17th but was on course for a top 10 before a late collision with Patricio O’Ward.
Power’s second means he is 83 points off the lead.
The second race of the weekend takes place on Sunday at 1244 ET (1744 BST).
