Will Power extended the run of different winners in the World Series by Renault to seven at Le Mans, the Australian finally confirming the promise shown in pre-season testing with his first victory.
The Carlin Motorsport driver was quick to take advantage of an uncharacteristic slip by polesitter
Robert Kubica, the points leader proving tardy off the line and allowing Power into turn one ahead of Eric Salignon.
The Australian was unable to build an early lead, however, as, further back in the field, Jaap van Lagen forced Simon Pagenaud off into the gravel trap, bringing out the safety car as the collision also involved Giorgio Mondini, Daniel la Rosa and Tomas Kostka, all of whom retired.
Racing resumed three laps later, and Power handled the restart perfectly, gaining several lengths over Salignon, who himself had pulled away from Kubica. The Polish driver was now under threat from race one winner Markus Winkelhock, with Felix Porteiro, Colin Fleming, Christian Montanari, Patrick Pilet and Enrico Toccacelo all included in the train that followed. The order, however, was ever-changing, with Pilet moving ahead of Montanari, and Toccacelo losing two places to Andreas Zuber and Adrian Valles, all on lap five.
At the same time, Tristan Gommendy sparked the mandatory pit-stops by coming in on lap five, closely followed next time around by Toccacelo, Montanari and Winkelhock. Salignon and Porteiro made their stops on lap nine, while Power, Kubica, Fleming and Valles stayed out, the Pole stopping next time around and Power on lap eleven.
Fleming and Valles thus took control of the race, but both the Californian and the Spaniard had yet to stop, hoping that they could establish enough of an advantage to remain in front when they did. However, with time running out and a lead of only 20secs over a group consisting of Power, Kubica, Salignon and Winkelhock, it seemed obvious that it would only be a matter of time before the lead changed hands again.
![Will Power - Carlin Motorsport [pic credit: renault-sport.com]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/139795.jpg)
