2007 IRL Rd. 3--Bridgestone Indy Japan 300

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Well, after two rounds stateside, it's time once again to take the IndyCar Series across the vast Pacific to the central mountains of Japan and to the 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi oval for the third of 17 rounds in the 2007 IRL IndyCar Series season, the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300. Built alongside a nearby mountain(the stands were for the oval were built into the side of the mountain itself), the oval's an interesting and tricky place(turns 1 & 2) are wide, broad and taken flat-out, while turns 3 & 4 are tighter and narrower), giving the track a distinctive "Darlington" style layout). Although Motegi isn't the final race before "the Greatest Spectacle in Racing", don't be surprised if a driver takes the mojo he or she catches here and rides it all the way to the Yard of Bricks in late May.........

Here is the event schedule for the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300........
Practice Session #1} 10:30 am-12:30 pm, 19 April 2007
Practice Session #2} 1:30-3:30 pm, 19 April 2007
Practice Session #3} 10:30 am-12:05 pm, 20 April 2007
Qualifying Session} 1:30-2:30 pm, 20 April 2007
Bridgestone Indy Japan 300} 1 pm, 21 April 2007(broadcast live on indycar.com and through the IMS Radio Network, XM Satellite Radio and the United States Armed Forces Network; the race will be tape-delayed for television /win North America; time set for noon on April 21, US EDT)
note......all times are local for the Motegi, Japan area

As always, I'll have observations, commentaries and whatever crosses paths w/this heah' moderator.........good luck to all the competitors!!

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Here are some figures concerning the IndyCar Series's annual trip to the Land of the Rising Sun........

~~425,000 lbs. of equipment to be transported from Indianapolis to Motegi and vice versa
~~13,500 miles for the trip(hey, frequent flier miles...... )
~~450 drivers, team members and series officials will make the trans-Pacific flight from LAX to Narita
~~the race distance at Twin Ring Motegi is 300 miles
~~the time difference btwn. the U.S. East Coast and Motegi, Japan is 13 hrs.
~~3 747 cargo planes are used to transport all the equipment needed for the event; 3 IRL officials are assigned to each plane
~~there is 1 pitstop along the way; a scheduled stopover at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage for rest/refueling/aircraft maintenance(2007 marks the 10th visit to the Anchorage, AK area since AOWR first went to Motegi)

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Mid-Week News and Notes.......................

~~Dallara prepares for 100th series victory. When the winner of this week's Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 rolls into victory lane it will be the 100th victory in IndyCar Series competition for Dallara Automobili; here are some milestones for them...........
(1st win)Jim Guthrie, Phoenix-1997
(25th win)Sam Hornish, Jr., Homestead-2001
(50th win)Scott Sharp, Twin Ring Motegi-2003
(75th win)Tomas Scheckter, Texas-2005

~~Live streaming of race..........for those interested, the race will be broadcast in streaming audio/video over the Internets at www.indycar.com (just follow the on-site links); you can also listen to the race courtesy of XM Satellite Radio, Ch. 144 and for those with access to shortwave radios, you can listen in, courtesy of the United States Armed Forces Network(check shortwave guides for frequencies)

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Practice Session #1 top-5............
~~18 drivers completed 683 laps; only one accident occurred, when Vitor Meira spun in turn 2 and crashed into the outside wall; he was checked at the infield care center and is cleared to compete

1} #11 Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing......................27.180 sec/201.322 mph
2} #27 Dario Franchitti, Andretti-Green Racing...................27.270 sec/200.658 mph
3} #7 Danica Patrick, Andretti-Green Racing......................27.360 sec/200.000 mph
4} #10 Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing.....................27.450 sec/199.346 mph
5} #3 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske.............................27.463 sec/199.209 mph

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Practice Session #2 top-5.............
~~18 drivers completed 1065 laps w/out incident

1} #7 Danica Patrick, Andretti-Green Racing........................26.959 sec/202.979 mph*
2} #55 Kosuke Matsuura, Aguri-Panther Racing....................27.020 sec/202.472 mph
3} #3 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske...............................27.050 sec/202.295 mph
4} #11 Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing........................27.093 sec/201.972 mph
5} #10 Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing.......................27.164 sec/201.444 mph

*--currently fastest time on combined practice charts following sessions 1 & 2

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From a partly cloudy Motegi and the Twin Ring Motegi racetrack, this is the Thursday notebook; here's a brief summation of what's transpired so far..........

~~What, no Penske or Ganassi in P1? In a surprise, none of the four red cars dominated in the first two practice sessions Thursday; instead, a seemingly resurgent Andretti-Green Racing squad led the timing charts in both sessions......in the first session, it was AGR teammates Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and Danica Patrick who led; in the second session, it was Patrick who led, holding off Aguri-Panther's Kosuke Matsuura to take top honors in the session.......afterwards, Patrick was asked about the success she's had at Twin Ring Motegi(dating back to her 2005 performance[started 2nd, finished 4th and led 32 laps])...........

I always like racing in Japan. We had a good result in 2005 and it's a place where I'm very comfortable. I love the country and always look forward to being there for the race; I think that makes a difference with how your weekend goes. If you're comfortable and relaxed, things just tend to come easier.

As to the practice itself............

The team gave me a good car to start with and we made small changes to it during the morning session. In the afternoon session, we didn't change anything. It goes along with a saying my dad has, "However you unload is how you run." We unloaded with a good car and it's been a fairly straightforward day.

~~On the other hand. One driver who probably wishes he could switch rides with Patrick is former teammate Vitor Meira, who crashed in the morning session Thursday...........

I don't know what happened; it was only my second lap. The thing just turned around on me.

~~Hey, wait for me!!! During race weekends at Motegi, most of the drivers usually hang around the track and surrounding environs.....not so Target/Ganassi's Dan Wheldon, who's been tooling around in a Honda CR-V complete w/the Union Jack on the side. Only one little problem.....everyone keeps asking him for rides; as "Dapper Dan" puts it,

I'm in a hurry right now, since T.K.(Tony Kanaan)'s waiting for me to take him to the Honda museum.

. Speaking of which.......Hey, wait for me, Dan!!!

~~New spotters for the race........In the Thursday press reports, Andretti-Green Racing listed two new spotters for their team; Danica Patrick will have spotter Marv Triestch for Saturday's race, while Tony Kanaan will have fellow Brazilian Jaime Camara, the team's Indy Pro Series driver, spotting for him during the race.

~~Me, then you, then me again.........During Thursday's practice session, Team Penske general manager Clive Howell joked around with Target/Ganassi Racing's Dan Wheldon about who would win the race.....Wheldon's reply,

I won, Helio won, then I'll win, then Sam will win, and I'll win at Indy.

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IRL officials, along with ESPN officials, have changed the tape-delayed broadcast time for the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300.........the Saturday, 21 April 2007 race broadcast is now set for 3 pm rather than noon; you can still catch the race live on indycar.com via live audio/video streaming and through live timing/scoring; broadcast times on the IMS Radio Network, XM Satellite Radio and the United States Armed Forces Network are unchanged at present.

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Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 Starting Grid...........
note.....all drivers using Dallara/Honda racecars


1} Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske.................................26.642 sec/205.393 mph
2} Dan Wheldon, #10 Target................................................26.674 sec/205.141 mph

3} Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11..........................................26.722 sec/204.777 mph
4} Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola.............................................26.788 sec/204.270 mph

5} Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske...................................26.850 sec/203.803 mph
6} Scott Dixon, #9 Target....................................................26.856 sec/203.753 mph

7} Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club/Argent.......................26.860 sec/203.723 mph
8} Tomas Scheckter, #2 Indy Vision.....................................26.877 sec/203.592 mph

9} Kosuke Matsuura, #55 Panasonic/TPR/ARTA......................26.937 sec/203.138 mph
10} Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Group.....................................26.939 sec/203.129 mph

11} Buddy Rice, #5 RollCoater/Racing for Kids.......................26.995 sec/202.708 mph
12} Scott Sharp, #8 Tequila Patron........................................27.004 sec/202.604 mph

13} Vitor Meira, #4 Delphi.....................................................27.052 sec/202.275 mph
14} A.J. Foyt, IV, #22 Indy Vision..........................................27.076 sec/202.100 mph

15} Sarah Fisher, #15 AAMCO Transmissions..........................27.106 sec/201.871 mph
16} Ed Carpenter, #20 Indy Vision.........................................27.138 sec/201.640 mph

17} Jeff Simmons, #17 Ethanol..............................................27.418 sec/199.581 mph
18} Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co...............................27.434 sec/199.460 mph

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Brief update on the just concluded Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 from the Twin Ring Motegi in Japan.................long green flag fuel runs and fuel strategies conspired to set up a late race duel btwn. former AGR teammates Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon; in the end, it was the 2004 IndyCar Series champion who prevailed.............more detailed review to be posted Saturday evening.

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A combination of late green-flag stops and succession of lead changed conspired to give Andretti-Green Racing and 2004 series champion Tony Kanaan his first win since Milwaukee in 2006 and his first on a "superspeedway"(i.e. any oval track 1.5 miles and longer) since Kansas 2005.

Starting third, the Briazilian played a somewhat cautious game vs. former AGR stablemate Dan Wheldon; however, the two broke away early from the field at the start, leading almost 3/4th's of the laps in Saturday's Bridgestone Indy Japan 300(Wheldon led the most laps w/126 total). The cautiousness Kanaan showed throughout the race paid major dividends later on, as he would at each round of stops be the last to pit(which BTW payed off at race's end). Wheldon, meanwhile, had to play conservative the last 80 or so laps after losing radio communication with his team, prompting TGR to ask race control to black-flag Wheldon twice the last 80 or so laps so that Wheldon would know when to pit for fuel.

Unlike the IndyCar Series' previous visits to the Motegi mountain, there were only two cautions for accidents(both single-car involving Kosuke Matsuura and Marco Andretti), along with a third for debris early on. It was a race of debuts as well; Honda debuted its' new H-17R Indy V8 engine(sucessor to the H-16S Indy V8 ) and its' event debut was a successful one; no engine-related troubles were noted throughout the weekend.

Here is the top-10 from Motegi................
1st} #11 Tony Kanaan.........................................200 laps
2nd} #10 Dan Wheldon........................................-.483 sec
3rd} #27 Dario Franchitti.....................................-11.071 sec
4th} #9 Scott Dixon............................................-11.509 sec
5th} #6 Sam Hornish, Jr......................................-1 lap
6th} #8 Scott Sharp............................................-1 lap
7th} #3 Helio Castroneves..................................-1 lap
8th} #17 Jeff Simmons.......................................-1 lap
9th} #2 Tomas Scheckter...................................-1 lap
10th} #15 Buddy Rice........................................-1 lap