DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Will Power’s starting his season with “change” very much top of mind.
The year of newness started at the 64th Rolex 24 At Daytona as part of Kenny Habul’s 75 Express outfit, making his long overdue debut in both the race and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving the No. 75 Mercedes-AMG GT3.
His debut in IMSA’s annual global all-star event precedes his switch to Andretti Global in the IndyCar Series, following 17 long and illustrious years with Team Penske.
Coincidentally, Power and both his IndyCar teammates, Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson, all ran the Rolex 24 in three different entries in either the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) or Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) classes.
For Power, getting to race alongside his longtime friend Habul, reigning Australian Supercars champion and 2020 Rolex 24 GT Le Mans class winner Chaz Mostert and two-time Rolex 24 class winner and Mercedes-AMG factory driver Maro Engel was a thrill to fulfill after many years in the works.
It was Power’s first start in the WeatherTech Championship, and it resulted in a pretty darn happy ending as the quartet qualified fourth and finished second in the GTD PRO class, just 2.223 seconds behind the class-winning BMW M4 GT3 EVO fielded by Paul Miller Racing and driven by Neil Verhagen, Dan Harper, Max Hesse and Connor De Phillippi.
Power hoped to contest the Rolex 24 with Habul’s team in 2023 but was forced to postpone his plans when his wife Liz was stricken with a life-threatening staph infection.
He said this year’s experience was worth the wait.
“It’s so much fun, and I can’t believe this is my first time here at Daytona,” Power said after celebrating the podium finish with his 75 Express teammates. “I definitely plan to come back.”
Habul, 52, and Power have known each other for nearly three decades. They shared a podium in 1999 when Power won the Australian Formula Ford support race for the CART Honda Indy 300 in Surfers Paradise and Habul finished third, and they remained in contact after Power went on to his remarkably successful American career and Habul built one of Australia’s premier sports car racing teams.
Habul was impressed with the way Power adapted to racing a car with a roof over his head for the first time within memory.
“He’s uniquely talented,” said Habul, the CEO of Sun Energy 1, a major provider of solar power. “The car doesn’t respond the way he’s used to so it’s an adjustment for him. But he’s so talented that even when he doesn’t know what he’s doing, he’s posting purple sectors (fastest segment times). He just has such good feeling in his hands.”
Power paid tribute in return to Habul.
“Kenny is so fast,” he said. “At his age, and for a guy whose day-to-day job is running a huge business and is not in the car very often, his pace is amazing. The last time we shared a podium was 27 years ago in Formula Ford, so it was pretty cool to share one again.”
The entire Rolex 24 experience, encompassing three days of Roar Before the Rolex 24 testing as well as the race weekend itself, left a positive impression on the two-time IndyCar Series champion (2014 and 2022) and 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner.
Power was heavily active in multiple aspects of the Daytona experience, including IMSA’s fan-friendly focused initiatives such as a Fan Forum, autograph session and open pre-race grid walk among others.
“I really enjoyed it, and I really want to do more,” Power said. “Just learning something different and new is always good. Different car, different format, different way of racing, and sharing a car. I think it’s good for you to get out of the same routine.
“There are some seriously good drivers on this team – honestly, seriously good drivers throughout the field – and it’s really cool to drive with the 75 Express team in a Mercedes-AMG,” he added. “I expected tough competition, but I like just how much fun the driving was. I really enjoyed it. It’s very important at this stage of my career to have fun driving, and I think when you’re really competitive, you’re having fun. As long as I’m competitive, I’ll continue to drive.”
