Oriol Servia also scored strongly in the second KVRT entry, the Catalan rounding out the top five despite qualifying only twelfth and then stalling at the start.

“It was a crazy race,” Servia said, “I stalled at the start - which wasn't ideal and not part of the plan - but I then came from last to fifth. We had good pace and I was able to overtake.

"I am really happy for Will and the whole KV Racing Technology team after the huge effort they have put in. We showed speed at the last race in St Petersburg and now a win for him and fifth for me is great for the points and a great start for the season.”

Alex Tagliani should have been best placed to inherit the win when Wilson retired, but the Canadian, despite starting from the front row, found himself behind Power when it mattered and then faded to seventh in the closing stages, coming in behind the second Conquest car of Franck Perera.

David Martinez, Ernesto Viso and Jimmy Vasser rounded out the top ten, the veteran getting the better of counterpart Paul Tracy on his final open-wheel outing. Tracy, his future uncertain beyond this event, came home eleventh, ahead of Bruno Junqueira.

An alternate strategy, topping up with fuel on lap seven during an early yellow and then being able to stay on track as the leaders pitted, allowed Martinez to make up a handful of positions, at some points being the quickest car in the field. After the last pit-stop shuffle was completed, the Mexican found himself in eighth position but, although he managed to catch Tagliani with one lap to go, lapped traffic kept him from finding room for a move. Eighth was still a career best for Martinez, however.

"It's a shame that we had mechanical problems during qualifying because we had a great race car today and I think, if we could have started farther up the grid, we could've fought easily for a top five spot," he said, "The first stint of the race was very tough, as I was on the 'reds' and had very little grip, I knew we couldn't push too much, so I just held back and saved fuel. After we changed tyres, things changed completely, I was able to pass a bunch of cars and the team came up with a great strategy that kept pushing us to the front. It was a long race but I just kept pushing every lap and it definitely paid off."

Viso was working on saving fuel when, in traffic, he encountered HVM team-mate Nelson Philippe, who was preparing to enter the pits. The two cars came together, with Viso suffering minor damage, althoug he was able to continue without any issues. His race was fairly smooth after that, with the exception of a stall in the pits, but he struggled to climb higher than his eventual ninth.

“This is what happens when you qualify at the back," the Venezuelan sighed, "That is why qualifying is very important.

"Other than that, when I had the red tyes on, my car was slower but, when we put on the black tyres, I was flying - nobody was quicker on the track at that point.”

Vasser, who was making his first Champ Car start since Long Beach in 2006, showed the younger guys that he can still get the job done. Starting 13th, he quickly moved into the top ten and was looking to move up when he made one minor error, shifting into neutral in the hairpin and losing three positions. However, refusing to throw in the towel, he battled back to tenth by the chequered flag.