Engine issues appear to have befallen Team Penske’s Will Power, who entered the KOHLER Grand Prix third in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship standings - the Indianapolis 500 winner was 36 points behind leader Scott Dixon entering the weekend.
Power, who started second, immediately started plummeting through the field once the green flag waved, and he headed for the pits at the end of Lap 1.
His No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet Penske team quickly went to work to identify the problem before taking it back to the paddock area.
#KOHLERGP / Lap 2
— Will Power (@12WillPower) June 24, 2018
PIT STOP: Engine cover is off. Engine is not running. (PR)#INDYCAR
IndyCar on NBC pit reporter Marty Snider reported that the team identified it as a header problem, and while they tried making repairs - Power did get back out on track for one lap - they were unable to fix the issue and retired the car.
@12WillPower is out of the #KOHLERGP. Here is what he had to say about it. pic.twitter.com/LGAnO9gRtj
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) June 24, 2018
“They replaced the exhaust, and it just blew straight back out. So, there’s obviously something going on in there that’s gone wrong,” Power said to Marty Snider after he climbed out of the car. “I feel bad for all the guys. It’s just one of those things, you know - you’ll get that every now and then at some point. No good, but we’ll move on to the next one.”
Power will finish 23rd.