Among the drivers who definitely didn’t enjoy the freshly repaved Road America was Will Power.
The reigning champion’s bad day started during the second practice session of the weekend, which featured two negative highlights for him, set to ruin the rest of his weekend as well.
Firstly, the Team Penske driver was held up on the back straight by Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean, then he was squeezed into the wall at the exit of Turn 12 by Scott Dixon, who hadn’t seen Power on a fast lap as he was rejoining the track after a spin.
The Team Penske driver took out his disappointment on Dixon, trying to hit him in the heat of the moment, and also on random debris left off the track. Later, he had appeared to have calmed down, also stating that he had made up with the Chip Ganassi driver while in the medical car.
Photo credits: Penske Entertainment | James Black
Qualifying was yet another frustrating session for the two times INDYCAR champion. After suffering from a brakes issue on his hastily rebuilt car, where a screwdriver was left in, Hunter-Reay spun out issuing a red flag while he was on a fast lap attempt, which might have improved his current starting position of P22, just ahead of Dixon.
Power showed his dismay on live television in a heated rant after the end of his Group 2 session, where he complained about the Road America track, the state of the runoff area and the behaviour of some of his colleagues:
“This track’s terrible when you go off, they do a terrible job here, they need to pick up their game, anywhere you go off you almost break your back every time, done it a couple of times this weekend. Need a kick in the butt for this place.”
In spite of the displeasure with the six-time INDYCAR champion’s behaviour, Power highlighted the importance of the great job done by his team on the car in order to get it running in time for qualifying:
“Just pissed, what Dixon did this morning has ruined our whole weekend, just a terrible move. The guys did a great job, fortunately we had a screwdriver in there and were sort of able to get it going, the team did a fantastic job.”
Before the collision with Dixon, the former Road America winner had shown great pace, and was sitting in the provisional top ten. Power is left feeling rather “frustrated” and “disappointed” instead, as he continued:
“We got out there, I did everything I could man, it’s just so hard in this field if you’re behind the eight-ball. You’re not sure about the aero balance will be. Man, frustrating because I felt like we were really quick this morning. Disappointed with what happened.”
“And Grosjean is a piece of crap if you saw what he did in practice. He needs a punch in the face,” he concluded on his rant, showing his disapproval for the former Formula 1 driver’s previous actions this morning.
