R16 IndyCar, Twin Ring Japan 18th Sept

[Muzza]

Indy Japan 300, from Motegi

Its about time we get a race that we can watch live at a decent time.

This is the 2nd last race of the season, currently points championship:
Will Power - 552,
Dario Franchitti - 535,
Scott Dixon - 469
Heilo Castroneves - 448, &
Ryan Brisco - 418

A race win is worth 50 points, you get 2 points for pole and a further 1 point for leading the most amount of laps.
So only the top 4 are in it and for Heilo to win, he would have to take out 1st in both the remaining races as well as getting pole/s and or leading laps. The same could go for Scott but, both Will and Dario will need to DNF in both races.
One thing to note is that Dario will more then likely take out the Oval title

Race Preview

The oval course is the only one of its kind in Japan, and currently is only used once a year for racing. It is a low-banked, 1.549-mile-long egg-shaped course, with turns 3 and 4 being much tighter than turns 1 and 2. On March 28, 1998, CART held the inaugural race at Twin Ring Motegi Speedway. The race was won by Mexican driver Adrian Fernandez. CART continued racing at Twin Ring Motegi Speedway from 1998-2002. In 2003, Honda entered the Indy Racing League and the race became a part of the IRL schedule. In addition to IndyCar Racing, the track has also hosted a single NASCAR exhibition race in 1998.
Honda, which had built the oval for the express purpose of developing its oval-racing program for Indycar Racing, did not win a race at the track for its first six years of operation. In 2004, Dan Wheldon took the first win for Honda on the oval. In 2008, the Motegi oval gained additional publicity when Danica Patrick became the first woman to win an Indy car race there.
The Nissan Proving Grounds for testing off-road vehicles are also located in Motegi.

This is the seventh event at Twin Ring Motegi. The winning driver at Twin Ring Motegi has won the championship once (Dan Wheldon (2005).
In 13 seasons, no driver has won the 16th race of the season and also won the championship

Local Event Timings:

Saturday 18th

9:30 > 10:30 – 1st Practice
12:30 > 1:30 – 2nd Practice
3:30 > 5:00 – Qualifying

Sunday 19th

1:00pm (200 laps)

ESPN broadcast time in AEST is Live 1:00pm Sunday afternoon (PLEASE NOTE THERE IS NO REPLAY OF THIS RACE)

Current time and weather in Tokyo (60kms Sth) is HERE 1 hr behind AEST

For Live Timing/video log on to: RACE CONTROL

LINK to IndyCar website for more information

[Mothers Worry]

Thanks Muzza.

C'mon Will let's get this done!

[bradk12fan]

I'll take anyone in the top 3 as champion, preferably Franchitti, but Power's pretty cool too.

[bpratt]

Thanks for the preview Muzza.

It's always been a funny race this one at the Twin Ring.

[WilliamsF1]

Penske 1-2-3 in qualifying with Castroneves first, Briscoe second and Power 3rd ahead of Franchitti in 4th. Lets hope Power finally wins an oval race and gets a clear points advantage going into the last race.

[kevrulezz]

Qualifying Results:
1. Helio Castroneves Penske 201.992mph
2. Ryan Briscoe Penske 201.594mph
3. Will Power Penske 201.463mph
4. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 200.964mph
5. Marco Andretti Andretti 200.187mph
6. Tony Kanaan Andretti 200.011mph
7. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 199.623mph
8. EJ Viso KV 199.487mph
9. Dan Wheldon Panther 199.225mph
10. Takuma Sato KV 199.191mph
11. Scott Dixon Ganassi 199.020mph
12. Danica Patrick Andretti 198.935mph
13. Bertrand Baguette Conquest 198.794mph
14. Vitor Meira Foyt 197.950mph
15. Alex Lloyd Dale Coyne 197.556mph
16. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas 197.402mph
17. Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas 197.361mph
18. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 196.850mph
19. Raphael Matos De Ferran Dragon 193.813mph
20. Mario Moraes KV 196.460mph
21. Roger Yasukawa Conquest 196.296mph
22. Paul Tracy Dreyer & Reinbold 195.709mph
23. Alex Tagliani FAZZT 195.483mph
24. Simona de Silvestro HVM 193.561mph
25. Milka Duno Dale Coyne 192.527mph

  hopefully Penske don't do anything stupid with Powers strategy like the last 2 races 

[Muzza]

  hopefully Penske don't do anything stupid with Powers strategy like the last 2 races 

+1

[SLE355]

Good run for Will, goes to the last race with a 12 point lead.   

[Muzza]

Good run for Will, goes to the last race with a 12 point lead.   

And his best result on an oval 3rd....