Will Power added to his dominance in Sao Paulo with today’s second-round victory in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Australian has turned his 2009 opportunity with Team Penske into a full-season ride this year and with two events now completed for the 2010 season, others might be looking for a way to best Powers. He is two-for-two — both on temporary street circuits — and now holds a commanding lead in the standings with 103 points over a trio of IndyCar Series drivers tied for third at 59 points apiece.

“It’s just great. It’s Verizon’s first year, and we’re out to win the championship. Perfect pit stop, good race. Perfect weekend – pole and a win. Can’t get much better than that,” smiled Power.

The storm that flooded the circuit yesterday did subside but also left a green track plus cooler temperatures in the early part of the race before the heat of the day. Even on an abrasive track, the drivers were able to put on a show for the fans who did return to take in a Monday morning action of racing with overtaking on the 1.8-mile track. There were ten leaders over the course of 100 laps, a record for St. Petersburg. What was even more impressive was the fight for positions, even near the end of the race.

Power is the first driver since 2001 to take the first two race wins in a season and the first since 2008 to land back-to-back victories. Adding to his kudos this weekend was the fact that he came out of the box flying and was fastest on the timecharts in each of the three practice sessions prior to qualifying plus landing the pole position.

Yet the Aussie was not perfect and it nearly cost him the victory today when he had a brush with a wall in the closing stages but he held on and still beat Justin Wilson to the finish line by 0.8244 seconds.

“I knew he (E.J. Viso) had to save fuel, but he had a problem. That was close. I didn’t want to nail him from behind because I knew Wilson was coming. I picked a side and went for it,” explained Power on his brush with the wall.

Wilson started fourth in his Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Honda Dallara and came so close to taking the win in his new ride this year. Still the Briton held off his nearest challenger even while putting the pressure on Power to score second.

“In that last stint, we were flat out. We were pushing hard,” Wilson said. “Everyone on the Dreyer & Reinbold team did a great job on that last pit stop. From that point on, I was trying to put will under some kind of pressure. I saw him get sideways a bit, but it wasn’t enough.”

The racer trying to make it a one, two finish for Team Penske was Ryan Briscoe but he came up short but did take the final podium spot. Briscoe, who started 19th, added to the cheers heard from Australia with Penske’s two Aussie drivers finishing first and third.

“We knew we had a good car for the race. We had a plan for the race. We were going to do the opposite of the leaders, go off-sequence, and it worked beautifully for us,” said Briscoe. “It was tricky there when it was damp, but we kept all four wheels on the island. After Brazil, I was just telling myself to be calm out there.”

Team Penske leaves St. Pete with three drivers in the top five with Helio Castroneves placing fourth.

Two other remarkable runs came from Dario Franchittti who spun on the opening lap but fought his way back to fifth at the checkered flag and Danica Patrick’s climb from 21st on the grid to finish seventh.

Alex Tagliani also had a good run with his new FAZZT team, sandwiched between the defending IndyCar champion from Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport’s Patrick, to place sixth.

Rounding out the top ten were Raphael Matos (de Ferran Luczo Dragon Racing), Graham Rahal (Sarah Fisher Racing) and Tony Kanaan (Andretti Autosport).

There were five cautions in today’s race, covering 23 laps out of the 100. Contact during the event which sidelined six drivers included Scott Dixon, Mike Conway, Dan Wheldon, Mario Moraes and rookies Takuma Sato and Alex Lloyd.Power lead the opening four laps before Marco Andretti held it for on lap when Dixon then took command for 20 laps. Other lap leaders included Vitor Meira, Matos, Franchittti, Briscoe and E.J. Viso. Power did lead the most laps including the final 28 laps of today’s race.

Heading into the road course at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. — a new race for the IndyCar teams but one they have tested on over the past year — Power holds the points lead with Wilson, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Franchittti at 59 points in second. Matos has 56 followed by Castroneves at 54, Briscoe has 51 with Meira at 50. Rounding out the top-10 is Wheldon at 42 and Patrick has 41 points.

Image: Motorsport.com

Source: Motorsport.com