Beginnings

Will developed a passion for motorsport at an early age and like many other kids got into Karting, something he still enjoys. Sedan racing on dirt-tracks was his next step up where he learned valuable lessons of car control.

His family then brought a Formula Ford and Will contested state championship rounds and honed his open-wheeler skills to a level where in 1999 he won his first Formula Ford races and in 2000 the Queensland State Championship. 2000 was also the year in which Will made his debut in the National Formula Ford Championship achieving seventh overall.

2000

Formula Ford State Series:

• QLD State Champion
• Qualified front row for every race entered
• 18 podiums out of 18 starts (7 wins, 9 seconds, 2 thirds)

Formula Ford National Series:

• Racing an Australian made Spectrum 07 in the factory team
• 7th overall
• 5 podiums

Formula Ford Gold Coast Indy Support Race:

• Pole both qualifying sessions, lap record.
• Won race 1
• 4th race 2 (with gearbox failure)

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2001

Formula Ford National Series:

• Competed in a 1994 model car against more current machinery
• 2nd place overall
• 5 wins (10 podiums), from 16 starts

Honda Indy Young Guns:

• An event in which 10 talented young Australians from different categories were invited to compete in an all expenses paid, one-make race that supports the annual Surfers Paradise Indy 500 street race.
• Pole position by 1 second
• Won race one
• 2nd in race two
• 2nd overall.

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2002

Formula Holden:

• 1st Overall: The Australian Gold Star Drivers Championship
• Rookie of the Year
• 7 wins out of 12 starts.

Australian Formula Three:

• 2nd place in the Championship
• Missed first 4 races
• 6 wins (10 podiums), out of 12 starts
• Pole position and won both races at Surfers Paradise Indy 500 street race.

V8 Supercars (Australian touring car Championship):

• Chosen to contest both the Queensland 500 and the Bathurst 1000 endurance races with Larkham Motorsport, teamed up with Mark Larkham.
• Queensland 500:
    - Qualified 11th out of 32
    - Finished 11th out of 32
• Bathurst 1000:
    - Qualified 16th out of 38
    - Finished 18th out of 38

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2003

British Formula Three Championship
Diamond Racing / Ralt-Honda Mugen:

Initially contesting the 2003 British Formula Three season with Diamond racing and the new Ralt chassis, Will Power struggled with a car that was under-developed compared to the technologies of engineering giant Dallara and therefore was not progressing as he had hoped. After three rounds of the championship (the third in which he was unable to race), Will and the team parted on amicable terms deciding to cut their losses allowing Will to further his career elsewhere.

Fortec Motorsport / Dallara-Renault:

Will signed a deal with Fortec Motorsport in time for the 6th round of the Championship and effectively, that is where his season began.
(Will was new to every track he raced on and had limited testing opportunities pre-season.)

• Achieved a 2nd place podium finish at Thruxton

*Suffered a car damaging accident in the opening qualifying session whilst lying 5th fastest. But despite being hurt, Will was determined to get back into the car as it was the last round of the season.

Bathurst 24 Hour race:

• Will competed in the Bathurst 24 Hour race in Australia in November 2003 where he drove a 911 Porsche with 3 co-drivers. Will impressed being the fastest of the four drivers and posting a quickest lap time that included him in the top six Bathurst contenders.

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2004

Alan Docking Racing:

Will contested the 2004 British F3 season with the 2002 championship winning and Australian owned team Alan Docking Racing. The Silverstone based team ran Dallara chassis and Mugen-Honda engines.

Will ran all of the twelve race meetings this year and has enjoyed 5 podium finishes. Struggling with budget constraints from quite early on in the season, Will has performed well with limited testing opportunities. Not knowing if he would be able to finish the season, Will was lucky to find a sponsor who funded the remaining 4 rounds of the championship, keeping his season in tact by only missing the non-championship round of the F3 Masters at Zandvoort and some end of year testing. With 2004 being highly regarded by teams in the category as the most competitive in recent years, there have been eight different winners overall and the times were extremely close which made for exciting and aggressive racing.

F3 Calendar 2004 and Results:

*Race was wet and drying, finished third out of wet tyre runners. Top three on slicks.

European F3000:

Before embarking on his first Formula One test and after a two month break following the 2004 British F3 season, Will flew to Italy for a one day test at the Misano track with Euro F3000 champions, Draco Racing. Will’s poignant driving style suited the F3000 car and despite being new to the circuit, he was able to reach a competitive time that meant he ended the day fastest of the four Draco drivers testing.

Minardi F1:

Will had a taste of his future ambitions when he completed 22 laps in a Minardi F1 car late last year. The test was organised by the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) as an incentive for the young Aussie should he complete the 2004 British F3 season. The test was held at Misano in Italy on November 25/26 and Will impressed team boss Paul Stoddart by posting a time not far off the times of the more experienced driver’s who tested earlier in the week, and for doing so in a relatively small amount of laps. Will was the fastest of the three drivers testing on the day.

(See www.minardif1.it for more information)

World Series by Renault:

After making his mark with the Draco Racing team when he tested their Euro F3000 car, Will jumped at the chance to test with them again when the team announced they would be attending a three day, World Series by Renault test, at Paul Ricard last December. Having only flown home to Australia seven days earlier, Will flew back to Europe where 13 teams and 27 drivers were testing the 2004 Dallara Nissan cars ahead of the World Series’ change to Renault for the 2005 season. After completing approx. 40 laps on the afternoon of day one, Will was second fastest and only a tenth of topping the time sheets. His time was enough to place him seventh fastest at the end of the three days testing, despite changing track conditions.

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2005

Since then, Will was invited by front running World Series by Renault team, Carlin Motorsport, to test with them in Europe . Will made his way back to the UK from Australia before heading off to the Paul Ricard Circuit in southern France for the second time. Impressively, Will was 8 tenths quicker than the rest of the field during the morning and only dropped to second, less than a tenth off pole, during the last 15 minutes of the day. The team, joined by Will, drove from France to Barcelona to continue their testing programme. Will tested on the first day having never visited the track before and clocked a time of 1min28.774, which not only put him fastest at the test and beat the 2004 pole time by 1 second, but is the unofficial lap record around the track in any single-seater bar a F1 car.

Will then returned to Australia for the Grand Prix where he met with team MD Trevor Carlin and confirmed his seat for 2005. On returning to Europe , Will and his new team used April to complete three official two-day WSR tests with the new upgraded Renault car.

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