Power’s pass wins in Brazil

SAO PAULO — Will Power made a late overtaking move to take the lead from Ryan Hunter-Reay to win the rain-shortened IndyCar season opener on the streets of Sao Paulo on Sunday.

The Australian passed the American with three laps to go, clinching the inaugural Sao Paulo Indy 300 for his second career victory.

Power crossed the line 1.858 seconds ahead of Hunter-Reay when the race ended at the two-hour time limit with only 61 of the 75 scheduled laps completed.

“I feel awesome,” the Penske driver said. “We battled it out, it was a great day.”

The race had to be red-flagged near its halfway point after heavy rains made track conditions unsafe.

Home crowd favorite Vitor Meira was third, followed by compatriot Raphael Matos at the 2.6-mile, 11-turn Anhembi temporary circuit in South America’s biggest city.

Danica Patrick lost control of her car as it started raining, finishing 15th.

It was the first time in IndyCar Series history that the race was run on the same day as qualifying, which was postponed from Saturday because the front straight was too slick and drivers complained it made racing unsafe.

Officials added grooves to the track overnight and fixed the problem in time for qualifying.

The start of the race was marked by a scary incident involving U.S. driver Marco Andretti, who escaped injury after his car was hit from behind.

The car of Brazilian driver Mario Moraes finished on top of Andretti’s and they slid tangled for several yards. The bottom of Moraes’ car appeared to be touching Andretti’s helmet, and it took more than five minutes for officials to remove Moraes’ car so the medical team could attend to Andretti.