"It was a long race with those kerbs - they beat the hell out of you," he winced, "but it was nice to get by Dario [Franchitti] in the beginning. From there, I picked off good laps but, unfortunately, I got held up by [Alex] Tagliani for good while. The guys did a great job in the pits to get us by him, and then I did my usual deal at Surfers. I've never been out of the top-five here."
Tagliani held on to claim fourth in only his third start in the #36 Conquest Racing car, adding weight to his claim to a full-time seat with Eric Bachelart's outfit next season. Although he missed the podium, the Canadian still achieved Conquest's best IndyCar finish since Laurent Redon claimed third at California in March 2002, and was pleased to have run with the series' big-hitters.
"I'm very happy with this result - Brandon [Fry] and Eric [Zeto] worked so hard on the engineering aspect of the car, they saw potential in Detroit and were very excited with the feedback they received," he commented, "They were able to take that preparation for this race in Australia, and I'm pretty sure that the winter will be much sweeter with this good result.
"Coming here and fighting with Dixon, the champion of the series, Briscoe with Team Penske, it was a great showing for our team. The last pit stop is kind of what cost us a podium. We had a problem with the fuel going in the car and Ryan Hunter-Reay passed us. I think the team finished the season the way we wanted and now we will continue working over the winter.”
On what proved to be a good day for the former Champ Car teams and drivers, Oriol Servia completed the top five, bringing a little solace to a Team Australia after Power's early exit.
"I've finished the season with another top five, which is great, but it was a race where I think KV Racing Technology and Team Australia had the dominant car," the Catalan sighed, "KVRT has shown that, on road and street courses, we have everything it takes to win. It's just tough racing out there and everything has to go your way.
"Again, we got very close to a great race and, actually, I think we had a good race, going from 15th to fifth. We passed a lot of cars on track, which is not very easy these days, so I am very happy with the race. We have the potential to win races together, but we just need to keep working hard."
Team-mate Power led the initial 16 laps, but a mistake in the quick backstretch Esses ended his day when the #8 car's front-left corner made contact with the inside barrier. A disappointed Power, who has now qualified on the Surfers' pole three times but suffered appalling luck in the race, immediately held up his hand and accepted the blame for his retirement this time around.
"Obviously, I'm very disappointed," he sighed, "The car was very quick - you could see how fast we were at the start of the race. [At the time of the accident], I had backed off to save a lot of fuel, wasn't pushing hard and then got caught out and clipped the inside wall and ricocheted into the next one. It was a really bad mistake, the worst of my life. It's was a very bad day for me."
Rookie EJ Viso posted his second best result of the season, following fourth on the road at St Petersburg, by bringing the sole HVM Racing car home in sixth place. The Venezuelan ran as high as second, but was twice instructed to give up the place, once to let Servia by because he had cut a corner, and later to relinquish the position again because he had blocked cars behind him. Viso led one lap during the race.
