2008 IRL Rd. 3A--Bridgestone Indy Japan 300

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Having slept through session #2, here are the top-5 from the session...................

1} Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing....................27.245 sec/200.842 mph
2} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing......................27.307 sec/200.390 mph
3} Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing....................27.326 sec/200.250 mph
4} Helio Castroneves, Team Penske..........................27.356 sec/200.032 mph
5} Ed Carpenter, Vision Racing.................................27.396 sec/199.737 mph

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Brief update from Motegi....................


Qualifying as well as the third practice session for Saturday's Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 have been cancelled due to the continuing rains here at the track, so the 18-car grid will be set by entrant points for tomorrow's race.



Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 Starting Grid.........................
1st} Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
2nd} Scott Dixon, #9 Target

3rd} Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
4th} Marco Andretti, #26 Alpine

5th} Dan Wheldon, #10 Target
6th} Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola

7th} Ed Carpenter, #20 Menards/DirecTV
8th} A.J. Foyt, IV, #2 Joost/Indy Vision

9th}(R)Hideki Mutoh, #27 Honda Formula Dream
10th} Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol

11th} Buddy Rice, #15 RollCoater/Bitburger
12th} Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.

13th} Vitor Meira, #4 National Guard/Delphi
14th}(R)Jay Howard, #24 Cirrus Aircraft

15th} Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske
16th} Townsend Bell, #23 WilliamRast

17th} Marty Roth, #25 Cirrus Aircraft
18th} Roger Yasukawa, #77 Interush/PHYTTER

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Brief update on the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300................

--the start has been delayed due to a couple of "weepers" in turns 2 and 4; what's essentially happening is that water, especially after long showers such as what went through the Motegi area late Thursday and Friday percolates up through the asphalt onto the racing line

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Updating the situation from Motegi.............

--after waiting for over 2 hours on efforts to dry the persistent "weepers" coming up through the track in turns 2 and 4, IRL officials postponed the Motegi race back one day; it is now set to run Sunday afternoon(local time; here in the States' the race will be aired on ESPN Classic at 10pm Saturday as a same-day tape-delay)

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Morning update from Motegi......................

--all indications are that the race will go off as scheduled; track officials are confident that they got all of the "weepers" from yesterday and that everything should go off without a hitch
--with about 90 mins. before the race, there seems to be a sizeable crowd in the stands, along with a lot of RV traffic inside the 'Ring
--reminder that the race is set to air on ESPN Classic this evening, 10pm US EDT(11am Japan time) w/reair on ESPN-2 at 11am Sunday morning US time

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Minutes away from the start of the race; drivers have been called to their cars and the command to start the engines is about a minute or so away.......

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Cars are rolling off of the grid and the green flag is moments away.......

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Race control reporting that the green will fly the fourth time around; weather conditions are cloudy, mid-50s' with track temps hovering just over 60-degrees(F)

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Pace's off away......................GREEN FLAG! GREEN FLAG!


And just as fast, the caution is out for a spin and crash in turn 1; race control reporting the #26 of Marco Andretti spun, hit the wall and slid to a stop at the bottom of turns 1 and 2

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FWIW, this is the second consecutive year a driver has failed to make one lap around the track; last year it was Aguri-Panther's Kosuke Matsuura who crashed on lap 1 of the 2007 race

Pits are open; race control reporting the #6 of Ryan Briscoe has entered pitlane......

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Talk about racking up the frequent flyer miles.......ESPN pit reporter Jack Arute is doing double duty this weekend; he's in Motegi for the race tonight(tonight US EDT).......immediately after the race, he'll head to Tokyo for a trans-Pacific flight that will whisk him to Long Beach for the Toyota Grand Prix Sunday afternoon US EDT.


Green flag back out on lap 7.........Castroneves leads the field through 1 and 2.......

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Top-5 at the moment(lap 9)
Castroneves
Dixon
Wheldon
Kanaan
Patrick

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Mutoh makes the pass around Manning for 10th.......

Castroneves continues to lead, maintaining a .5 sec. lead over Dixon; Wheldon, Kanaan and Patrick round out the top-5

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Passing lap 21; no change in the top-5.........

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Leaders starting to catch the back of the field; Roth now a lap down, followed by Yasukawa as the frontrunners begin lapping the backmarkers............