Will Power has taken a dominant victory at the Road America IndyCar race, albeit by just under a second to the Chip Ganassi Racing of Tony Kanaan.
The Australian racer effectively completed a lights-to-flag win for Team Penske, losing the lead for only a handful of laps during the first round of pit-stops earlier in the race.
Graham Rahal ended proceedings as the highest Honda-powered car in third position, after a race-long battle with Tony Kanaan at the sharp-end of the order.
Ryan Hunter-Reay managed to finish the race a very competitive fourth for Andretti Autosport, after championship leader Simon Pagenaud suffered a dreadful final few laps and plummeted down the order.
Hunter-Reay eventually came home across the line just over a second ahead of Helio Castroneves, after perfecting an overtaking manoeuvre on the Brazilian into Turn 5 during the final few laps.
Charlie Kimball finished sixth, sandwiched between the Team Penske duo of Castroneves and Columbian veteran Juan Pablo Montoya.
Montoya started the race from a lowly 14th on the grid, but enjoyed a busy afternoon in the midfield, rising steadily through the order after frenetic battles for track position with the likes of Max Chilton, James Hinchcliffe and Josef Newgarden.
Despite suffering injuries to his shoulder and wrist during an almighty shunt at the postponed Texas race last time out, Newgarden managed to end proceedings a heroic eighth for Ed Carpenter Racing ahead of team-mate and rookie Spencer Pigot.
Andretti Autosport racer Carlos Munoz rounded out the top ten, after a frenetic race for the Columbian racer which included an early duel for track position with rookie Conor Daly.
Despite running as high as second throughout the latter stages of the race, championship leader Pagenaud could only manage 12th at the chequered flag after suffering a disastrous final stint after the restart.
The Frenchman was initially expected to challenge team-mate Power for the lead, however he ended up going in the opposite direction after being swamped by numerous drivers in the space of one lap.
However, Pagenaud still leads the drivers’ championship by 74 points to team-mates Castroneves and Power.
The one and only caution period of the race was caused by rookie Daly, who suffered a car failure of some kind at Turn 1 while battling alongside Hunter-Reay.
Under braking the American racer speared off of the track and bounced through the deep gravel trap before tapping the tyre barrier.
Meanwhile Chip Ganassi racer Scott Dixon’s afternoon ended in disappointment, with the Kiwi picking up a mechanical failure on Lap 7 and pulling off of the track to retire.
The four-time IndyCar champion was one of two retirements during the 50-lap race, and has therefore dropped from second in the drivers’ championship to fourth behind the Team Penske trio.
