Will Power dominated the first half of the KOHLER Grand Prix as the Verizon IndyCar Series made its long-awaited race return to Road America.
Starting from pole position, Power managed to hold onto his lead at the start despite coming under pressure from Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan.
Dixon was forced to retire from the race after just six laps, suffering an engine failure that left him with no choice but to park up at the side of the track.
A full course yellow was not required for Dixon, meaning that all 25 laps have been run under green at Road America thus far.
Power stopped on lap 12, switching from alternate reds to the black primary Firestone tire, with Graham Rahal jumping Kanaan in the pits to take second.
However, Kanaan got a great tow down the back straight before diving down the inside at Canada Corner to re-take second place before then setting his sights on Power up front.
Kanaan put in a sequence of rapid lap times to cut the gap of almost five seconds in half. However, Power upped his own pace to sit 3.5 seconds clear at the halfway point.
Kanaan dived into the pits on lap 25 as the second round of pit stops got underway in a bid to get the undercut on Power up front.
Race leader @12WillPower pits just past halfway at @roadamerica! #KohlerGP #IndyCar pic.twitter.com/AGSf6K2Agy
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) June 26, 2016