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

Power passed Hunter-Reay with three laps to go, clinching the inaugural Sao Paulo Indy 300 for his second career win.

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

The race had to be red-flagged near its halfway point after heavy rains made track conditions unsafe, marking another setback for the track which was initially being hailed as one of the highlights of the season but faced problems throughout the weekend.

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.

Power, whose other victory was last year in Edmonton, got out of his car and celebrated with the thousands of fans packing the grandstands of the stadium-like Sambadrome where the race took place.

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

There were only about three minutes left when Power overtook Hunter-Reay, breaking late to make the pass at the end of the long backstretch. The win was extra special for Power, who last year sustained a season-ending back injury in a crash in Sonoma and only landed a full-season deal with Penske late.

• Bahrain Grand Prix: Fernando Alonso won in his debut for Ferrari, leading the team to a 1-2 finish in Formula One's season-opening race in Sakhir, Bahrain. Alonso passed teammate Felipe Massa at the second corner after the start. He then overtook pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel on the 34th lap for a lead he would never relinquish. Massa passed Vettel soon after to claim second on his return to racing after a life-threatening crash in July in Hungary. Nico Rosberg was fifth and Mercedes teammate Michael Schumacher, who started seventh, was sixth in his first race in three years.

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