Two-plus decades have passed since Will Power last raced a production-based sports car in Australia’s Bathurst 24 Hour in 2003 in a Porsche 996.
The two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion said he has looked for the right opportunity to return to sports cars, and he found it in a place he knows so well.
Yes, it’s fair to say Power has some experience – and success – at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is hosting the Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS this Saturday, Oct. 18. In addition to winning the 2018 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, Power has competed in 17 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile IMS road course, winning five races and six poles. He finished third in this year’s Sonsio Grand Prix.
“I have been meaning to do, and wanting to do, some GT racing for some time,” he said, noting his effort to compete in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 2023 was called off due to the illness of his wife, Liz. “It’s different, and I’ve wanted to feel it and see how I go. This is a good start at a track I know, and if I do a good job and if I like it, I’d like to do some more.”
Power is paired this week with fellow Australians Kenny Habul and Chaz Mostert in the 75 Express Mercedes-AMG in the Intercontinental GT Challenge event for GT3 sports cars. The car will compete in the Pro class of Saturday’s eight-hour race, with a green flag at 12:20 p.m.
Power isn’t sure how they will share the car, but he got a chance to take some laps in it Wednesday. Fellow NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver Conor Daly also is competing. Gates open at 8 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
Australian Power said he had to get permission to participate from Team Penske, which holds his rights through the end of the year. In January, the driver who ranks fourth in INDYCAR SERIES career race wins (45) and first in career poles (71) will officially join Kyle Kirkwood and 2022 “500” winner Marcus Ericsson at Andretti Global. Power will drive the No. 26 Honda in next year’s 17 races.
Power said he has looked forward to racing with Habul, a longtime friend whom he competed against in the Queensland Formula Ford Championship in the late 1990s. In 2000, they shared a podium for a support race for the INDYCAR event at Surfers Paradise.
Power said he has known Mostert, an Australian Supercars star who drives for Walkinshaw Andretti United, over the years, too, although not as well. This is the same team, albeit with a different name, that he tried to race with in the Rolex 24.
In addition to being an IMS road course expert, Power is confident that the feedback he has received from his teammates will help him quickly reacclimate to this form of racing.
“There’s a reasonable amount of practice time, too, so I should be able to get some good laps in before the race,” he said. “It’s not like qualifying matters a lot in one of these (endurance) races, so it’s not about absolute speed.
“I should be able to get a lot of time in the car in the race, and that’s enough time to figure it out. If I like it, I’ll do more of it in the future.”
Tickets and more information for the Indianapolis 8 Hour can be found here.
