2006 IRL Rd. 3-Bridgestone Indy Japan 300

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Moderators: Ed, mlittle

Who will win the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300?

Poll ended at Sat Apr 22, 2006 8:31 am

Dan Wheldon
1
33%
Danica Patrick
1
33%
Tomas Scheckter
0
No votes
Buddy Rice
0
No votes
Helio Castroneves
0
No votes
Helio Castroneves
0
No votes
Dario Franchitti
1
33%
none of the above
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 3

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2006 IRL Rd. 3-Bridgestone Indy Japan 300

Post by mlittle » Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:31 am

Japan. The land of the rising sun. Since 1998, NA open-wheel racing has visited the shores of this island nation, and 2006 marks the ninth time Indy-style racecars have run at the egg-shaped, 1.5-mile, moderately banked Twin Ring Motegi, located in Motegi, Japan, about three hours north of Tokyo. For the fourth consecutive year, the IRL IndyCar Series has run here before returning to the States' and the Indianapolis 500, and in the three preceding years, one driver each year and, for the last two, one team in particular, have used Motegi as a springboard for the month of May.....

2003: Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing......Started on the pole and finished in the top-5; Dixon went on to take the points lead w/wins in Pikes Peak and Richmond, eventually winning the 2003 series championship.

2004: Buddy Rice, Rahal-Letterman Racing. A solid run at the Twin Ring gave Rice enough of a push to not only take pole at the Brickyard but win at the Brickyard; although he would fall to the 1-2 tandem of AGR's Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon, Rice was the biggest opponent they had the remainder of the 2004 season.

2005: Danica Patrick, Rahal-Letterman Racing. A front-row start and 4th-place finish set the stage for a near-spectactular month of May(fastest in rookie orientation, fastest practice speed in the month of May, first woman to lead a lap during the 500, 4th-place finish, etc.) and what would eventually lead to rookie of the year honors.

2006:........who will get the proverbial push from Motegi through to Indy?

The race is currently scheduled for 11:30 PM U.S. EDT Friday, April 21st(12:30 PM local time, Sat. April 22 in Tokyo) and will be broadcast on the IMS Radio Network(w/domestic radio and webcast through indycar.com), Ch. 145 on XM Satellite Radio and on the U.S. Armed Forces Network. The television broadcast will be at 12:30 PM(next-day tape) on ESPN.

Note......in case anyone's wondering why Bridgestone is sponsoring this race, it is because Bridgestone is the parent company of not only Bridgestone N.A., but also of Firestone. Hence, rather than, say, the Firestone Indy Japan 300, it is the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300.
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Post by Snowy » Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:12 pm

Dan but I voted for Dario :shock:

(not again Snowy how many times must I tell you :x ) :!:
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Enge to sub for Cheever at Motegi

Post by mlittle » Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:10 am

Cheever Racing officials, along with owner/driver Eddie Cheever, Jr., aanounced today that, due to cinflicts w/the team's Rolex Sports Car Series weekend at Virginia Intl. Raceway, the team will be switching drivers for the upcoming Bridgestone Indy Japan 300, as former Panther Racing driver Tomas Enge will be in the car for the Motegi race instead of Cheever. Team officials did state, though, that Cheever will be in the car when teams arrive at the Brickyard May 9 when the first major practice session of the month of May occurs.
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Post by mlittle » Fri Apr 14, 2006 10:10 am

Here is the event schedule for the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300......
Note......all times listed are local times for the Motegi, Japan area

Practice Session #1: Thurs., April 20, 11 am
Practice Session #2: Thurs., April 20, 1:45 pm
Practice Session #3: Friday, April 21, 9:30 am
Qualifying Session: Friday, April 21, 12:30 pm
Final Practice Session: Friday, April 21, 3:45 pm
Bridgestone Indy Japan 300: Saturday, April 22, 1 pm(11 pm, Friday, April 21 U.S. EDT)

Live coverage of the race will be on the IMS Radio Network(domestic US radio/webcast through indycar.com), along with XM Satellite Radio, Ch. 145, and radio/TV coverage courtesy of the United States Armed Forces Network. ESPN will have next-day tape coverage of the race on Sat. April 22(stateside) at 12 PM U.S. EDT(16:00 UTC).
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Post by Snowy » Fri Apr 14, 2006 11:29 pm

Looking forward to it. I wonder if they are gonna show on terrestrial TV in the Uk. :oops: :oops: some hope :x
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Post by mlittle » Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:10 am

Snowy wrote:Looking forward to it. I wonder if they are gonna show on terrestrial TV in the Uk. :oops: :oops: some hope :x
According to the series' international TV listings(here's a helpful link.... www.indycar.com/schedule/international_tv.pdf ), two networks within Great Britain are listed, Sky Sports, and Channel 5.

Here are some other places/networks of interest:
Australia--ESPN Pacific Rim(possibly Network 10 as well......)
New Zealand--ESPN Pacific Rim
South Africa--ESPN Atlantic via DSTV
India--ESPN Star Sports India
France--AB Moteurs
Germany--Premiere & AFN
Canada--TSN/RDS
Japan--Nippon TV, Gaora & AFN
Italy--Sport Italia
Netherlands--RTL 5 & AFN
Russia--7TV & AFN
Spain--AFN(no domestic ntwk. listed)
Mexico--ESPN Latin America


Hope this answers your questions, Snowy.
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Postcards from the Paddock.....Motegi

Post by mlittle » Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:41 pm

Am I glad I got my passport renewed..... 8) 8) :shock: :lol:

Anyway, for the IndyCar Series' fourth visit to Japan, it's already been a whirlwind tour of goodwill, fun and the good-natured, give-and-take that AOWR is sometimes known for. Here are a few snapshots of the visit so far....

1}Okay, it's not Indy, but......For IndyCar Series drivers Dan Wheldon, Danica Patrick and Kosuke Matsurra, it was a chance to stretch their legs a little bit as the three joined several others for a celebrity karting race, the Utsuniomiya 500......Now, we don't know exactly just how the race went, but here's a hint as to who won.......which of the three probably said this, "Hey, it's not Indy, but I finally beat Dan Wheldon!"
:shock: :shock: 8)

2}Visiting the home company......for several members of Aguri-Fernandez Racing, including driver Scott Sharp, it was a chance to visit their sponsor's homebase, as one of the team's major sponsors, Futaba, is HQ'ed in Japan. For Sharp, it brought back memories of his youth; his father was a Datsun(now Nissan) dealer back in Connecticut and he spent several months total in the land of the rising sun. While visiting some of his sponsors', Sharp commented on the enthusiasm of the fans...."It's pretty amazing how knowledgeable they are when we all race in their country one time a year. They're so enthusiastic; they're there so early in the morning. It's simply tremendous."

3}Random musings I.......ever wonder what some of the drivers' actually drive off-track? Just ask 2-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves....."A Acura 2006 RL, a 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo, the 2001 Indianapolis 500 Pace Vehicle Oldsmobile Bravada, and a 50th Anniversary Special Edition Chevrolet Corvette that I received for winning the 2002 Indianapolis 500."

Anyway, there's the first of what should be a few postcards from Motegi. Now, if you will excuse me, I've got to get back in the sky; T-K's up there, flying a Zero, and I'm in a Corsair, so it should be pretty interesting. :burnout: :burnout: 8) :shock: :shock: 8)
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Post by Snowy » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:52 pm

mlittle wrote:According to the series' international TV listings(here's a helpful link.... www.indycar.com/schedule/international_tv.pdf ), two networks within Great Britain are listed, Sky Sports, and Channel 5.
Hope this answers your questions, Snowy.
Many thanks mlittle

I can actually get channel 5 now, it's a bit 'snowy' but it is watchable with enough lager in me belly. :drink: :cheers:

You have fun in Nippon and don't hit the saki too hard. The futons there are like marble slabs! :roll: :wave: :mrgreen:
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Postcards from the Paddock....Motegi

Post by mlittle » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:07 pm

Here are some fast facts about the Twin Ring Motegi, the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 and other miscellaneous facts floating aboutst the paddock.....

1}The Twin Ring Motegi is actually three different circuits: a 1.5-mile egg-shaped(think NASCAR's Darlington Speedway) oval that has been used by CART(1998-2002) and the IRL(2003-present), a .634-mile short, karting-style track and a 2.849-mile MotoGP circuit.

2}Past winners at the track(from 1998-present) include Adrian Fernandez(1998-1999), Michael Andretti(2000), Kenny Brack(2001), Bruno Junquiera(2002), Scott Sharp(2003) and Dan Wheldon(2004-2005). Should Wheldon win this week, he will be the first IndyCar Series driver to win three cons. years at the same track.

3}A couple of milestones could be accomplished by various drivers should they win at Motegi.....Sam Hornish, Jr. can extend his streak of cons. seasons w/at least one win(to six) w/a victory at Motegi(it would be his 15th career ICS win); likewise, teammate Helio Castroneves can break a tie w/Buddy Lazier for fourth on the all-time wins list w/a victory at Motegi.

4}On the opposite end of the spectrum, Panther Racing's Vitor Meira will join former ICS drivers Sarah Fisher and Davey Hamilton for most cons. starts without a victory unless he wins at Motegi; it will be his 48th cons. race w/out a race win. The record currently is held by both Fisher and Hamilton; Meira is second w/47 races w/out a victory.

Anyway.....trackside activities should begin to pickup tomorrow as teams begin setting up their paddock spaces for the event weekend. As always, I'll try to keep abreast of whatever's happening in Motegi; there's never a dull moment......unless you count the very, very, very long flight from LAX to Narita! :shock:
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Mid-Week Storylines

Post by mlittle » Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:17 am

Here are some of the mid-week storylines as this weekend's race approaches....

1}Can he win his home race? For Aguri-Fernandez Racing's Kosuke Matsurra, it's been a interesting season so far. 2 top-10 finishes(6th-Homestead, 7th-St. Pete) have him solidly in the top-10 in points going into Motegi, and for the wildly popular Matsurra, he has to be considered as a legit contender for the win on the ultra-wide(80+ feet wide track) Motegi oval.

2}Can he three-peat? For Target/Ganassi Racing's Dan Wheldon, he has a chance at setting a little bit of IRL history; should Wheldon win, he will, to the best of my recollection, be the first IndyCar Series driver to win three consecutive yrs. at a specific track.

3}How will the Panoz Brigade do this week? Going into this season, the speculation amongst all the scribes was that Panoz, faced with A: the intro of the Panoz DP01 chassis over in the ChampCar series next year, and B: the fact that only one team, Rahal-Letterman Racing, would run a 2006-spec Panoz chassis(Ganassi and Aguri-Fernandez are running 2005-spec Panoz' on the road courses..... :? ) and the consensus was that RLR's three drivers would have a tough season ahead. While it has been a very tough year so far for the Ohio-based team, their spirits should pick up, for Motegi has been pretty kind to the team.(Read the first posting on this thread for the reasons why....) I wouldn't be surprised if any of the team's three drivers(Rice, Patrick or Simmons) are at the sharp end of the spear late in the race.
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Postcards from the Paddock.....Motegi

Post by mlittle » Thu Apr 20, 2006 1:49 pm

And, to think, it was raining in the Carolinas for most of the day......oh, well.... :shock: :lol:

While it continues to rain at the Twin Ring Motegi, halting practice for the present, here are some random musings from the paddock.....

1}Visiting the troops.......While some of his fellow IndyCar Series drivers got to stretch their legs in a karting race, Hemelgarn Racing's P.J. Chesson traveled to Yokota AB and spent most of the early part of the week signing autographs for American forces stationed there, and got to take to the air in the second seat of an F-15E Strike Eagle. When asked about his visit, he said....."It's definitely safer in a race car. I don't know anything about flying a fighter. The last thing I need is another guy shooting at me. At least Dan Wheldon doesn't have a (20mm cannon) mounted on his race car." :shock:

2}Is that a moving traffic cone? For Panther Racing's Vitor Meira, it is. It will the team's fourth different paint scheme in their history. When the team first raced back in the halcyon days of the mid-1990's, their cars were black and yellow. Then yellow, courtesy of Pennzoil. In 2003, the team, for the ICS race at Kansas, sported the colors of the then-upcoming movie "Terminator 3". And, of course, who can forget the silver-colored Pennzoil Platinum colors the team carried on the #4 several times in 2005. For this race, the car's listed as the #4 Network LIVE/Pennzoil Dallara/Honda.


Well........time to visit the sights some more, and.....watch it continue to rain. Hopefully, this rain will pass, and maybe we'll see a race. 8) :lol: :lol: 8)
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Castroneves tops abbreviated practice at Motegi

Post by mlittle » Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:23 pm

It's said that, with a "green" track, anything is possible......which was exactly the case for the first practice session in the runup to the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300, as drivers and teams had to adapt to an abbreviated practice that ended up being one long 50-minute session. At the end of the session, though, there were some familiar names at the front. Only two drivers were able to top 200+mph on the speed charts, Marlboro-Team Penske's Helio Castroneves(#3 Marlboro/Team Penske Dallara/Honda), who set the fastest time/speed at 27.194 sec./201.223 mph, and Andretti-Green Racing's Tony Kanaan(#11 Team 7-11 Dallara/Honda) at 27.348 mph/200.088 mph. Indeed, six teams saw at least one driver in the top-10 on the practice charts.

However, the same qualities that can scramble up a practice chart can also snap at drivers; just ask Castroneves' teammate, Sam Hornish, Jr. Three laps after setting his fastest time, the #6 Marlboro/Team Penske of Hornish's spun and crashed going through turn 3, causing extensive damage to the car. Thankfully, Hornish was uninjured, and has been cleared to drive after being checked out at the infield care center. Afterwards, he said....
The car was pretty good. We were just trying to get everything worked out. Nobody has the chance to test here, so when you come here you try to learn as much as you can in what little time you have. It's unfortunate the accident happened; I just turned into 3 and the back end came out around. It's unfortunate. It's going to be a lot of work for us over the next couple days to get back to where we need to be.
Here are the top-5 from the abbreviated practice and some driver quotes.....

1}#3 Helio Castroneves, D/H........................27.194 sec./201.223 mph
2}#11 Tony Kanaan, D/H..............................27.348 sec./200.088 mph
3}#6 Sam Hornish, Jr., D/H...........................27.394 sec./199.751 mph
4}#2 Tomas Scheckter, D/H..........................27.460 sec./199.270 mph
5}#8 Scott Sharp, D/H..................................27.501 sec./198.974 mph

Tomas Scheckter, #2 Vision Racing Dallara/Honda:
It was a good run to be honest. The car was good straight out (of) the box and that's all you can ask for. We'll carry on some of this momentum from today into tomorrow and hopefully that will translate into a good qualifying position.
Scott Sharp, #8 Delphi Dallara/Honda:
It's great to be back here in Motegi; I love this track. The Delphi guys did a great job and we came out with a pretty good starting set-up. We were fairly careful with the conditions and pretty happy with the car. Although we did not get that much track time, we are in good shape to pick things up tomorrow.
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Postcards from the Paddock.....Motegi

Post by mlittle » Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:31 pm

Repeat after me.......Rain, rain, go away....you get the picture. :x

Once again, the rain gods have pushed back the schedule for today, meaning everyone gets another set of random musings a/k/a a "postcard from the paddock." (Hopefully, the weather will cooperate with us just enough to get qualifying in...hmmph!)


1}A museum full of dreams.......When one enter's Honda's collection hall, one is instantly awestruck by the sheer number of championship vehicles, both 4- and 2-wheel, that Honda has collected over the years. Some bring back a lot of memories. For instance, the 1995 Honda-Reynard that Andre Ribiero, driving for Tasman Mtrspts. at the time, drove to victory at Loudon, NH, giving Honda its' first NA motorsports victory. Then there's the 2003 Dallara/Honda that Tony Kanaan drove at Phoenix to the checkers, giving Honda its' first IndyCar Series victory back in 2003. Finally, to top it all off, at the front of the collection hall are two IndyCars from last year's Indy 500, #26 Jim Beam/Klein Tools Dallara/Honda driven by Dan Wheldon, and the #16 Argent/Pioneer Panoz/Honda driven by Danica Patrick.

2}So those are the new trucks, hmm? While everyone's waiting....and waiting...and waiting, for the rain to stop, it gave the IRL's Delphi Safety Team a chance to get their fleet of Honda Ridgeline trucks washed and cleaned, but they didn't just let them sit in the rain. Nope, they got in 'em, and drove them around the track! Over.....and over.....and.....you get the idea. We should call what they were doing......Boredom 101: How to relieve boredom during rain delays.

3}Spiderman......and sumo wrestling? For Marlboro-Team Penske's Helio Castroneves, the rain gave him a chance to tell about his 2003 trip to Motegi, where he got to participate in a sumo contest. As he tells it....."They found the smallest guy they could for me to go up against, but he was probably still the weight of my car. I went up and bumped him like the other wrestlers do, and I actually bounced off of him a little bit. I never want to do it again, but it was a lot of fun to try." :shock: :shock:


Anyway, it it still raining in Motegi; hopefully, there's still some chance that they can get qualifying done and over with........hmmph!
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Qualifying Rained Out for Bridgestone Indy Japan 300

Post by mlittle » Fri Apr 21, 2006 2:09 pm

IndyCar Series officials announced just about 10 minutes ago that, due to the inclement weather, that the starting grid for Saturday's Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 will be set according to the current series' entrant points, and, so the grid will line up as follows......

1}#3 Helio Castroneves, Marlboro-Team Penske(D/H)
2}#9 Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing(D/H)
3}#10 Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing(D/H)
4}#6 Sam Hornish, Jr., Marlboro-Team Penske(D/H)
5}#55 Kosuke Matsurra, Aguri-Fernandez Racing(D/H)
6}#11 Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing(D/H)
7}#7 Bryan Herta, Andretti-Green Racing(D/H)
8}#14 Felipe Giaffone, A.J. Foyt Racing(D/H)
9}#8 Scott Sharp, Aguri-Fernandez Racing(D/H)
10}#27 Dario Franchitti, Andretti-Green Racing(D/H)
11}#4 Vitor Meira, Panther Racing(D/H)
12}#2 Tomas Scheckter, Vision Racing(D/H)
13}#51 Tomas Enge, Cheever Racing(D/H)
14}#16 Danica Patrick, Rahal-Letterman Racing(P/H)
15}#5 Buddy Lazier, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing(D/H)
16}#91 P.J. Chesson(R), Carmelo-Hemelgarn Racing(D/H)
17}#26 Marco Andretti(R), Andretti-Green Racing(D/H)
18}#15 Buddy Rice, Rahal-Letterman Racing(P/H)
19}#20 Ed Carpenter, Vision Racing(D/H)
20}#17 Jeff Simmons, Rahal-Letterman Racing(P/H)


As far as predictions go.........with a green track and little practice time.....anything is possible. :shock: :shock: :shock: 8) :shock:
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2 in a row for Castroneves

Post by mlittle » Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:28 pm

In what was one of the more dominating performances in the IndyCar Series, Helio Castroneves(#3 Marlboro-Team Penske Dallara/Honda) led 189 of 200 laps in winning his second race of the season, the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300. While it was an almost easy-like performance for Spiderman, it was rough sailing for some of the others......


At the drop of the green flag(which was waved, BTW, by Bridgestone Japan's CEO, Shoshi Arakawa), Castroneves almost immediately checked out on the field, leading early and often, while some of the front-runners, notably Target/Ganassi's duo of Scott Dixon(#9 Target Dallara/Honda) and reigning series champion Dan Wheldon(#10 Target Dallara/Honda) gave chase. After a good, long, green-flag stint(25 laps), the first caution came out as the cars of Ed Carpenter(#20 Vision Dallara/Honda) and Tomas Enge(#51 Circle-K Dallara/Honda) crashed into the outside wall btwn. turns 3 and 4, putting the field under yellow for quite a while, as the Delphi Safety personnel took what seemed like forever cleaning up the debris and fluids on the track. Then, the "weirdness" that Motegi sometimes brings out came up on the run into the restart......

As the cars began the restart on lap 41, Scott Sharp(#8 Delphi Dallara/Honda) spun exiting turn 4, collecting the cars of P.J. Chesson(#91 CarMelo Dallara/Honda) and Jeff Simmons(#17 Ethanol Panoz/Honda); Simmons' car, after hitting Sharp's right-rear, did severla barrel-rolls down the frontstraight......thankfully, no one, especially Simmons, was hurt. Another long caution ensued as the first major round of pitstops took place.....(How dominating was Castroneves' today....? The only times he gave up the lead was when the field cycled through on pitstops. :shock: )

When the green flag waved on lap 51, Castroneves checked out once again on the field; this time, however, he would stretch the lead over Wheldon to as much as 4-5 seconds lap by lap. Meanwhile, the cars of Wheldon and former teammate Tony Kanaan(#11 Team 7-11 Dallara/Honda) fought over 3rd for several laps before Kanaan wrestled it away. Further back, there was a scary moment for both Bryan Herta(#7 XM Satellite Radio Dallara/Honda) and Danica Patrick(#16 Argent/Pioneer Panoz/Honda); as the two entered turn 3, the lapped car of Felipe Giaffone(#14 ABC Supply Co. Dallara/Honda) got in front of the pair as they were fighting for 7th. Both of them passed Giaffone(Patrick on the high side, Herta down on the inside) but lost a lot momentum and time in the process. At the halfway point, the top-5 were Castroneves, Dixon, Franchitti, Kanaan and Wheldon.

After another 40 laps of full-throttle, green-flag racing, teams began what would be their second stops of the day, and for two of them, mistakes cost them shots at the race. First victim, Dario Franchitti(#27 Jim Beam/Klein Tools Dallara/Honda).....as he entered his pitspace, he came in too fast, hitting two of his crew(fueler and left-front tireman) and forcing a lengthy stop. Second victim, Scott Dixon.....after a stop for fuel and tires, he stalls the car and it takes forever for the external starter to work, putting him well back. Meanwhile, Tomas Scheckter(#2 Vision Dallara/Honda) runs out of fuel exiting turn 2 and just barely makes it to the pits, falling 2 laps down in the process. In the end, though, nobody had anything for Helio Castroneves, who cruised to a 6-second victory in the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300.

The top-10 finishing order goes as follows......
1}#3 Helio Castroneves, D/H
2}#10 Dan Wheldon, D/H
3}#11 Tony Kanaan, D/H
4}#6 Sam Hornish, Jr., D/H
5}#15 Buddy Rice, P/H
6}#7 Bryan Herta, D/H
7}#55 Kosuke Matsurra, D/H
8}#16 Danica Patrick, P/H
9}#9 Scott Dixon, D/H
10}#4 Vitor Meira, D/H

Observations from Motegi to follow later today.......
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