Will Power

William Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske.

In 1999 Power began driving an ageing family-owned Swift SC92F in the Queensland Formula Ford Championship, winning races in a sporadic campaign.

In 2000 Power ran a full campaign leading to his first title in the Swift while simultaneously racing a late-model Spectrum 07 on the Australian Formula Ford Championship, finishing a promising seventh.

Still running a small family-oriented team in 2001, Power upgraded to a Stealth RF95, a Western Australian modification of a 1995 Van Diemen.

Power finished second in the series behind the factory-supported Van Diemen driver, Will Davison.

After three years of Formula Ford racing, Power moved into Formula Holden, racing for the Graham Watson-owned Ralt Australia team driving a Reynard 94D.

Power swept all before him in Formula Holden, winning the title by over 50 points from Stewart McColl, claiming the 2002 Australian Drivers' Championship by winning 7 times and achieving 3 pole positions.

Midway through the 2002 season, Power was allowed to drive for the Bevan Carrick-owned Cooltemp Racing Formula 3 team, driving a Dallara-Toyota as well in the Australian Formula 3 Championship.

Despite missing the opening races, Power missed out on winning the Formula 3 championship by only a handful of points to James Manderson.

Europe beckoned and in 2003 Power joined the British Formula 3 Championship racing initially for Diamond Racing, then later for Fortec Motorsport as tight funding prevented a full campaign.

A second place at Thruxton demonstrated his ability and Power mounted a full campaign in 2004 with Alan Docking Racing but finished the season in the ninth position with five podium finishes.

He tested a Minardi Formula One car in 2004 with his Australian Formula Ford and British Formula 3 rival Will Davison in Italy.

During 2005 he competed in the World Series by Renault for the Carlin Motorsport team, where he proved very competitive.

During the WSR championship, he scored two race victories, with 4 trips to the podium in total, and qualified his car on the front row five times.

In addition to driving in the WSR, Power was also one of the featured drivers for the Australian team in the 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix season.

Power raced in the series opener at Brands Hatch and piloted Australia to a second-place finish behind Team Brazil.

In late 2005 Power joined Champ Car Team Australia at the Lexmark Indy 300 event at Surfers Paradise in Australia, which also resulted in his departure from the World Series by Renault championship even though that season was still in progress and Power ultimately ended seventh in the championship.

In the Indy 300 Power ran strongly until being knocked off the track by teammate Alex Tagliani.

After the Surfers Paradise event, he signed a multi-year contract to race for the team, which began immediately at the next Champ Car round in Mexico City after Tagliani's teammate Marcus Marshall was released for what was described as a "serious breach of contract".

Power drove full-time for Team Australia in 2006.

He performed well throughout the season with nine top-ten finishes and strong qualifying results.

In Mexico at the final round of the season, Power took his first podium finish in Champ Car.

He won the "rookie of the year" award and finished in 6th place in the championship standings.

In his home race in 2006, at Surfers Paradise in Australia, he scored the first pole position of his career in Champ Cars, in front of his home crowd.

On 8 April 2007, Power won his first Champ Car race at the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix, held on the streets of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.

He qualified on the pole position and led most laps, becoming the first Australian driver to win in the series.

On 8 July, at the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto, with rain pouring down and visibility near zero when he got behind other cars, Power decided it was time to get aggressive.

Power drove from fourth to first in 14 laps, finally splashing past rookie Ryan Dalziel to take the lead with 23 minutes to go, and went on to an easy victory.

To get to the lead, Power also had to pass three-time Champ Car World Series champion Sébastien Bourdais and rookie Neel Jani.

Thanks to a series of late caution flags, he was able to go after each of them in turn.

"I was close behind Sebastien and I knew he was quite tentative in the wet and I attacked him," Power said.

"I got him on a restart. Then the next restart, I got Neel and the next restart, I got Dalziel. It's just about being aggressive at the right time and not hitting anyone".

"I just drove so hard here because we've just had so much bad luck in the last few races," said Power, whose first Champ Car victory came in the 2007 opener in Las Vegas.

"I didn't care; I just went hard. The car was good in the wet. It was good in the dry, and we stuck it to them."

Power had podium finishes at Long Beach, Mont-Tremblant, and Mexico City and pole positions at Houston, Edmonton, Surfers Paradise, and Mexico City to place fourth in the final point standings in 2007.

However, contact from Paul Tracy in the pit lane and then an ambitious overtaking move by Sébastien Bourdais resulted in a bent left steering arm, and he fell to the back, one lap down by the time the car was repaired, eventually finishing 12th.

He is the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner and has won the IndyCar Championship twice, in 2014 and 2022.

Power is fifth all-time in wins (41) and first all-time in poles (70) in Indy car racing history.

Will Power was born in Toowoomba, Queensland.

The son of open-wheel racer Bob Power, Will Power started his career in Queensland driving a Datsun 1200 at Morgan Park Raceway, Warwick as well as at Carnel Raceway, Stanthorpe.