Will Power's main challenge going into the IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas is overcoming an 18-point deficit to Dario Franchitti. Friday morning, he put himself on the line on Twitter for a grilling of questions from fans and observers heading into the season finale.
In the Verizon Wireless-hosted Twitter chat, Power (@12WillPower) received a wide range of questions spanning from the new car, to his mindset, to the strangest thing he's ever been asked to autograph.
Power could only fit so much into 140 characters when describing his test of the 2012 IndyCar, which ran for the first time with a Chevrolet engine earlier this week at Mid-Ohio.
“Very nice, definitely going to be faster than the previous car,” Power tweeted about the test.
Like a fair number of drivers in the field, Power has prior experience with turbocharged engines, having run them in Champ Car in 2006-'07. He admitted he hasn't had the chance to really turn it loose yet.
“I don't know (how similar it is)… just starting… not pushing hard yet,” Power tweeted.
Heading into Las Vegas, Power plays the hunter rather than the hunted – what he was last year. Power said he is “definitely feeling no pressure...just focusing on doing a perfect job.”
Some other racing tidbits the Australian touched on: he's twice raced at Bathurst (2002-'03), he anticipates setup for Las Vegas will be far closer to Chicagoland than any other 1.5-mile oval and he didn't blame Ana Beatriz for their Kentucky pit incident, rather the individual who sent her.
Off-the-wall notes included him saying he'd love to participate in Dancing with the Stars, a la his teammate Helio Castroneves, his favorite sport outside racing is the UFC, and that one fan had offered him to sign his baby's head – but Power respectfully declined. He ended with a zinger versus his championship rival.
“Yes we would like to take the tiara from him,” Power joked ... we think.