Brazil Raceday: Will Power's his way to the ultimate come back in Sao Paulo

Ryan Hunter-Reay, Ryan Briscoe and Will Power battled back and forth in a flurry of side-by-side action and overtaking for the final 20 minutes of this afternoon's rain delayed Sao Paulo Indy 300, putting on quite the show for the packed grandstands filled with soggy, but enthusiastic fans.

When all was said and done though, it was the newest fulltime Penske driver, Will Power, standing atop the podium, in a remarkable display of, well, willpower, battling back from a late season crash which saw him sidelined with a broken back and doubtful of his racing future, to kicking off the new season with a win and the points lead. Two other unexpected candidates, Ryan Hunter-Reay & Vitor Meira, rounded out the podium in what proved to be an unpredictable day of racing.

The chaos started early, as Takuma Sato spun on the very start, collecting Ryan Briscoe, Helio Castroneves, Will Power, and Scott Dixon. The bigger incident, though, came further back; Mario Moraes, unable to see through the dust, braked too late, spun sideways, and crashed hard into Marco Andretti's car, ending up on top of the American. "The start was very dusty and drivers in front of me were braking early into Turn One," explained Moraes. By the time I realized it was about 500 metres into the corner and when I applied the brakes I lost the rear and hit another car ending my race on the first lap."

Andretti was decidedly disappointed with the accident. "It's obviously dusty," said the frustrated 23-year-old. "I think if you have any common sense, you're not going to stay flat out if you can't see the car ahead of you. I don't know, I got hit from behind."

When the race restarted, Dario Franchitti led while Ryan Hunter-Reay challenged and passed Alex Tagliani for second, with Tony Kanaan the caboose of the four-car lead train. Meanwhile, Dixon, Power, Briscoe, and Castroneves all carved their back up through the field.

On lap 22, Milka Duno spun and stalled, bringing out a caution, allowing the leaders to pit. Simona de Silvestro caught a lucky break and had just pitted prior to the caution. She led the field back to the green, with Franchitti, Hunter-Reay, Kanaan, and Tagliani in tow.

Hunter-Reay then charged forward, passing Franchitti into turn 11, then de Silvestro into turn four, grabbing the lead.

Meanwhile, Wheldon tapped Tagliani from the back, forcing the Canadian into Kanaan, knocking Kanaan into an escape road and forcing Tagliani to retire. "Unfortunately, we had to pay for the mistakes of others," said Kanaan afterward. "It happens. I don't think it was on purpose and I believe I've made mistakes like that before. It's a shame it had to happen here in Brazil, in my hometown.

Then, came the rain. And rain it did. A heavy downpour caught several drivers, including Danica Patrick who spun off in the chicane, and Alex Lloyd who stopped on track, forcing officials to halt the race after standing water covered much of the track, making in nearly impossible to traverse.

The storm quickly cleared up and, with the sun now out, the track dried very quickly, allowing a handful of drivers, namely Hunter-Reay, Power, and Ryan Briscoe, to switch back to slicks before the race was restarted. Their superior speed showed immediately, and all three sliced through the field.

However, all three were also busy conserving fuel, unsure if they had enough ethanol to make the finish. In the midst of all that, Briscoe ducked underneath Hunter-Reay to grab the lead in the closing minutes. But, a short time later, the Australian misjudged the bumps heading into turn four and nosed his Penske Dallara into the tire barrier, bringing out a full-course yellow.

With the fuel no longer a question, Hunter-Reay and Power were left to duel for the victory. While Hunter-Reay had the measure of everyone through mid-section of the course, his car lacked speed down the 9/10 mile-long backstretch, allowing Power to slipstream his way by with a little more than three minutes left.

Hunter-Reay managed a second place finish, while Vitor Meira emerged from a frenetic race for third to claim the final step on the podium.

"It was probably the most mixed up race that I have ever been in, but it created an opportunity for me to come back through the field and end up winning the race," Will Power said. "The improvements that they did to the track last night, were like night and day. Not a problem at all going down the frontstraight. I think it is just a really good day for racing. If you were fast you could pass, because there is such a good track layout here. I'm pretty sure it was an exciting race for the fans."

Hunter-Reay was frustrated to have come second, but was very pleased with both the circuit and his team's performance. "It is great to have a race in Brazil. This has been a long time coming. The country and the fans are so passionate about racing. It's great to do it here. And that was a great show we put on. That's what we need on these street circuit and road courses is a lot of passing like that. We definitely have the tools to do it. We have two straightaways that were pretty long and provided pretty good passing zones. The only shame about the whole race is that it went red for some puddles because there were a lot of big dips out there and our cars hydroplane pretty easily. It would have been great to get some good rain racing in. Maybe next year we will fill in those things and see where it goes. It was just great to get the IZOD car up on the podium in second place to start of the season."

Vitor Meira proved to be the most joyous of all, though, having secured a podium in his first race back from his back injury. "It couldn't be much better than that," said the jubilant Brazilian. "I think Will (Power) can relate to it with a back injury and all that, it gets pretty uncertain at some times and having a team behind you making sure that the seat is available, makes a big difference during the recovery. This is the start of the big thank you I have to give to A.J. (Foyt) and ABC Supply. I hope we get better. We overcame a lot here. Like Will said before, it was a mixed up race. I think whether you were able to keep your nose clean and were fast enough to make up position in all conditions, you could come out with a good result and that's what we did."

Today's podium is the first for A.J. Foyt's team since Watkins Glen in 2008 with Darren Manning

With that, the series enjoys a weekend off before heading to the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida for round two of the 2010 season.

Full results of the race on São Paulo