Team Penske's Will Power overtook Ryan Hunter-Reay in Turn 11 on Lap 58 of 61 to win on wet, wild and rain delayed IZOD IndyCar Series season inaugural race, Sao Paulo 300 at Anhembi Sambadrome.
Power, driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, won by 1.8581 seconds ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay.
However, his teammate, Ryan Briscoe, threw away the win with a solo crash in the dying moments of the race. Power, also recovering from an abbreviated 2009 season due to back injuries sustained at Infineon Raceway, was happy to make the most of the gift his teammate's unexpected gift.
"Before that yellow we were all trying to save fuel and after that we went for it. It was great day for the Verizon Wireless team. Everything was thrown at us today and I'm glad we came out on top." The Australian driver quoted later at the press conference.
Dario Franchitti started from the pole position, but soon the race was red-flagged as rain started felling heavily. On the restart, Target Chip Ganassi's choice to leave their cars on rain tires failed to pay off, allowing Andretti Autosport's Hunter-Reay to lead for much of the closing stage of the race. However he was left finally second. Vitor Meira was third, followed by Raphael Matos, Dan Wheldon, Scott Dixon and PEAK Pole Award winner Dario Franchitti.
