Q&A with Will Power

Will Power

Will Power, who won the season-opening IZOD IndyCar Series race on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 14, will challenge 23 other drivers for the winner's trophy in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg this weekend.

Power, driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, was a guest on the Indy Racing League teleconference March 24. Select questions and answers:

Q: You've had emotional victories before, obviously your first win in Champ Car, and last year winning for Penske in Edmonton. But this was different. This was different at Sao Paulo because of the injury that you recovered from that you suffered at Infineon. Explain the emotion of your victory in Brazil and how it differed from other wins.
A: It was quite emotional to be honest because when you have an injury like that and you have a lot of downtime during the recovery period. You can become a little bit uncertain whether you'll come back as strong as you were and whether you'd be as quick as you were, and that was just confirmation that everything is back as it was and just helped with my confidence to be honest.

Q: You have a reputation as being quite the road warrior as far as on these street circuits. What is it about street circuits, and St. Pete also coming up is a street circuit, but what about street circuits suits do you like?
A: I'm not sure what it is about street circuits, but there's a lot more challenges on a street circuit than there are on ovals or road courses with uneven surfaces, bumps, different surfaces, grip levelâ€'wise, and you've got a wall. So you can't make a mistake. You've got to creep up on it all weekend. The track is constantly changing because the rubber goes down over the weekend because it's just a street during the normal day, and it's just all these little details that count to be quick.

Q: Talk about the importance of getting a victory right out of the box.
A: It's important for any victory during the season, but I guess it just gets the season kicked off in a good way. You get pit out of the next race, which is St. Pete coming up, and I think it gives the team, which is a new crew for me, confidence in me, and I have confidence in them that we can win this championship, we've just got to keep it together.