Will Power’s disastrous start to the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season continued at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday after the Australian saw a near-certain victory disappear due to a deflating tyre.
The Team Penske driver had converted his pole position into the race lead at the start, and had led sixty laps before he was called into the pits, and as a result he finished down in fourteenth.
Power has yet to finish inside the top ten in 2017, with a best finish of thirteenth coming at Long Beach, with the Australian currently sitting fourteenth in the championship standings, 67 points behind leader Sebastien Bourdais, but he remains positive despite his difficult start that good results are just around the corner.
“It was such a great effort all around,” said Power. “But the car was awesome. It was so fast. I feel bad. I could feel it starting to bottom and then started having issues in some fast corners. I held on as long as I could but I knew (the tyre) was going down – you could feel it.
“We’ll move on to the next one. I’m thankful to my crew, Verizon, the whole team – they put a great effort in and that’s how racing goes sometimes.”