Will Power is a welcome addition to Team Penske.
A new Australian dream team has just been created for IndyCar racing in the USA.
Will Power is joining Ryan Briscoe at Team Penske, one of the benchmark operations in American motorsport, after the collapse of his Team Australia deal which had been funded by mercurial Queensland businessman Craig Gore.
Confirmation of Power's high-profile new race place, with the most successful team in the history of the Indianapolis 500, came from Penske Racing yesterday.
He began work at the IndyCar pre-season briefing in Indianapolis yesterday, where he sat for the first time with Briscoe as his team mate instead of his rival.
"It is a tremendous opportunity for me to join one of the best teams in all of racing," said Power.
"This is terrific. It's going to be a lot of fun," Briscoe said.
Power's signing means he becomes the second Australia racer to have his career in America saved by Indy racing legend Roger Penske.
The motoring mogul plucked Briscoe out of the wilderness following a near-fatal crash, groomed him in sports car for a year, then turned him into a regular race winner last year.
"This year he is going for the title. That's the plan," Penske told the Herald Sun this week at the Detroit Motor Show.
"He's the real deal. He did a great job for us last year."
Penske was so happy with Briscoe's late-season charge — which earned him the lucrative fifth place in the IndyCar championship — that he paid for a speedboat the recently-engaged racer had ordered for his lakeside home in North Carolina.
Power's big break has come because Penske's IndyCar spearhead of recent years, American 'Dancing with the Stars' winner Helio Castro Neves, has run into trouble with the American tax department.
He is being prosecuted and could miss much of the coming season, even if he wins the case. But prosecutors are also calling for jail time if he loses.
"We remain hopeful that Helio's situation will have a positive outcome and the team is fully behind him," said Tim Cindric, president of Penske Racing.
"While Helio prepares for his court case, we're excited to welcome Will Power to the team. Will has already proven that he's a terrific racer and we think he's going to be a good fit with Team Penske."
Power had a tough first year in the amalgamated IndyCar series last year, although he won the very last Champ Car race on the streets of Long Beach.
He led before crashing in the Indy 300 at home on the Gold Coast but, when Gore decided not to continue his sponsorship of Team Australia following a withdrawal of his V8 Supercar team, was left without a drive and with few solid prospects.
Penske said the length of Power's deal with the team will depend on the outcome of Castroneves' court case, although he is already preparing for pre-season testing in Florida.
