"Bloody great day": Team Penske's Will Power shares his feelings after extraordinary IndyCar comeback at Thermal

Will Power finished P6 at the 2025 Thermal Club IndyCar race after starting in P21 following a poor qualifying session. He shared his feelings about the 65-lap race around the California circuit, detailing his extraordinary comeback.

IndyCar reporter Marshall Pruett interviewed the Australian after the race as he sat by his pit box. He mentioned he had witnessed many of Power’s wins, but the drive at Thermal was something special and asked him to share his thoughts on his run.

“I mean, we knew we had a very good car. It was just such a pity. And qualifying, to sort of blow that one lap with a bit like St. Pete," Will Power said. "But it was just very methodical and patient and, you know, I really wanted to undercut and use our pace on those out laps and then just work on people as their tyres went off.

So it was a, yeah, satisfying day considering the start I had to the season. It's nice to get up from the top six. That's kind of where we've been hanging all weekend anyway, but full green race and a lot of fun. Bloody great day. Was hoping we’d have a good day for the boys.”

All three Team Penske drivers, Scott McLaughlin, Power, and Josef Newgarden, failed to qualify and started the race outside the Top 12. The Australian began in P21 but detailed that he had a strong race car underneath him after qualifying.

With no cautions thrown during the 65-lap race, Will Power could race at his pace, chipping away the other driver one at a time, and made up 15 positions over the race distance to finish just outside the Top 5.

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Will Power’s teammate Scott McLaughlin’s miserable weekend at Thermal Club

Like the other Penske drivers, Scott McLaughlin failed to make it out of Qualifying 1 despite having the best results among his teammates in Practice. He spun on his banker Lap in qualifying and was given a drive-through for causing a caution, which hindered his race.

The Kiwi was the last of the Team Penske cars and started the race in P25. However, the Thermal Club GP didn't start as planned with Devlin DeFrancesco and him colliding on the warm-up lap. McLaughlin faced an issue with the hybrid system midway through the race and came six laps down on the leader out of the pits.

Team Penske eventually decided to pit Will Power's teammates and retire McLaughlin from the race. He and DeFrancesco were involved in a heated argument afterward.