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Victory in the Indy 500 would be as much of a personal milestone for Australia’s Will Power as a national moment.
Power, who will line up second on the grid in the iconic motorsport event, is primed to become the first Australian to claim victory at the “Brickyard”.
But in achieving that goal Power will also secure his first victory in nearly 30 IndyCar starts on an oval circuit – the core of American motorsport.
“That would be really funny if my first oval win came at the Indy 500,” Power told AAP from Indianapolis.
“That’d be something special.
“I want to get it (win on an oval) done sooner rather than later. It’s different sort of racing to what I’ve done in Australia and Europe and even in Champ Car over here.
“Ovals, you could say, are pretty new to me and you’d love to get a win just to have one you know? It’d be great, huge for the CV.”
Ironically given Australia’s lack of success in the most famous race in American motorsport, one of Power’s main rivals to the line on the weekend could be his compatriot and Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe.
The Sydney-raised Briscoe has qualified fourth and given Penske’s great record at Indianapolis, Power feels there’s never been a better chance of an Aussie win at the track.
“We’ve both got a great opportunity running with Roger Penske,” he said.
“He’s won it 15 times, I think the next closest is two.
“We’ve got good cars and a very good team and both of us have a chance of winning it.”
Providing extra motivation to Toowoomba-raised Power is the recent Formula One successes of Mark Webber, who he befriended during a five-year stint of open-wheel racing in Europe.
“Mark helped me out in my career when I was living over there in England, so I know Mark and I’m really happy to see him doing well,” Power said.
“He’s a really good guy and at last he’s in a team that can win.”
To take the checkered flag, Power feels he needs to complete his 200 laps of the 2.5 mile (4.02km) circuit without any errors despite travelling at an average speed in excess of 350km/h.
But he readily admits such high velocity action gives drivers plenty to think about.
“It’s unbelievable that speed. You can’t make a mistake, that’s the thing,” he said.
“It’s a fantastic track, there’s nothing like it in the world, it’s the fastest race in the world.
“You can’t make an error otherwise there’s always the risk of a big crash and hurting yourself.”
The Indy 500 starts at 3am on Monday morning AEST.
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