The Kiwi will lead the 23-car grid to the green in Motegi.......can he keep Ryan Briscoe from clinching the series championship or will the Aussie claim series honors in the Land of the Rising Sun.........
Qualifying for the penultimate round of the 2009 IndyCar Series championship had an element of danger and suspense that hadn’t been seen since Pole Day at the Indy 500. With two interruptions for crashes by Hideki Mutoh and Helio Castroneves, pole position changed hands four times with Target Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon grabbing the top spot on the final attempt of the day.
Dixon entered Motegi 33 points behind fellow Antipodean Ryan Briscoe, but with the extra point awarded for pole, the gap was brought down to 32.
"Championships come down to that one point," said Dixon. "It's definitely heading in the right direction. Last year we were dominating the race and still you could not be on the right strategy and somebody else could win. So we've got to try to keep pushing, but do it I think skillfully to make sure we don't go out there, burn a bunch of fuel, get ourselves in trouble as well. First step is done. Hopefully, we can continue in that direction. But we've still got 32 points to catch up to Ryan. That's a lot of points, unless he has a bad day."
After two quick practice sessions, and with Motegi's history of wet weather conditions, the series moved qualifying up to avoid any chances of encountering rain. With the short turnaround, teams had little time to make drastic changes for time trials and it showed as Dixon’s pole speed of 202.031 was nearly identical to the 202.105 he turned to head the final practice.
Graham Rahal was the first driver out to quality for the Japan Indy 300, setting a four-lap average of 200.689. Rahal held the pole after runs by E.J. Viso, Marco Andretti, and teammate Oriol Servia until Dario Franchitti snatched the top spot with an average speed of 201.395mph.
Franchitti’s speed withstood successive attempts by Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Ryan Briscoe, Robert Doornbos, and Hideki Mutoh. Qualifying was paused when the Japanese driver lost the rear of his car entering turn three on his second timed lap and flattened the left side of his car against the SAFER barrier.
The AGR driver extricated himself slowly from his Formula Dream-sponsored car and limped to the ambulance under his own power, favoring his left leg. His first lap of 198.718 was good enough for the fifth fastest speed, but with his place in the series in question for 2010, the Honda-funded driver didn’t strengthen his case by crashing at the Honda-owned facility. He was quickly released from the infield care facility and cleared to drive at his home race.
Qualifying resumed with former IRL regular Roger Yasukawa piloting his sticker-less Dreyer & Reinbold entry, followed by popular 2008 race winner Danica Patrick. Despite a fast warm-up lap, Patrick dealt with slight understeer and a gear change issue on her run, posting an average speed of 200.519 which was good enough for 6th.
Franchitti’s pole lasted until the final lap of Mario Moraes’ run. Just .010 behind the Scot through his first three laps, a monster fourth tour moved the young Brazilian into the top spot with a speed of 201.504, .109 faster than the Target driver.
With ten cars left to make their runs, Moraes watched as Mike Conway, Tomas Scheckter, Rafa Matos, Dan Wheldon, Stanton Barrett, Justin Wilson, and Helio Castroneves took their shots before qualifying was once again interrupted when the Brazilian found the wall. The 2009 Indy 500 winner ran wide into the exit of Turn 4, crumpling the right side of his Team Penske Dallara-Honda before continuing down the stretch of the font straight and coming to a stop at the end of the pit wall. The 2006 Motegi winner will join Hideki Mutoh on the last row.
Once the cleanup was completed, the third Japanese driver in the field, Kosuke Matsuura, achieved a 197.921mph in his Conquest Racing car, followed by oval specialist Ed Carpenter in his Vision Racing machine.
Moraes wasn’t seriously challenged for pole by nine of the last ten drivers remaining, but it was the last qualifier, 2008 IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, that prevented the youngster from growing comfortable with his first series pole.
Dixon’s first timed lap was the fastest of the 23 cars – a 202.010 followed by a 202.067, another 202.010 and a 202.036 for an average of 202.031.
As the Ganassi and Penske organizations fight for the 2009 driver’s title, Castroneves’ qualifying miscue could not have come at a worse time. With Dixon and Franchitti starting first and third, points leader Briscoe will start fourth, minus the help from his teammate. While the Target duo will be pushing for the win, Penske Racing will have to commit Castroneves to an alternate pit strategy to try and leapfrog the three-time Indy 500 winner to the front of the field. Taking points away from the Ganassi cars is Helio’s sole mission at Motegi.
For Dixon, his pole could spell even more trouble for Briscoe, as the two-time series champion is renown for making better fuel mileage than anyone else in IndyCar racing. If the race stays mostly green, look for Dixon to stretch his tank at least one lap further than the Penske cars, and possibly over Franchitti. Depending on the timing of a yellow, it could give Dixon an advantage his championship rivals won’t be able to recover from.
Beyond the unexpected pace of Moraes, Newman/Haas/Lanigan impressed in qualifying, placing Rahal in fifth and Oriol Servia, in his last race for the team, in seventh. Of the other notables, Dale Coyne Racing showed improvement in their oval program with Justin Wilson putting the Z-Line Designs Dallara-Honda in ninth.
Andretti-Green Racing suffered yet another disappointing qualifying session, placing only Danica Patrick in the top-10. Tony Kanaan’s qualifying position of 14th came at the expense of teammate Marco Andretti who starts 15th. TK’s first three laps showed the 2004 series champion to be behind Andretti, but a strong fourth lap moved him ahead by a scant .003mph. Kanaan's efforts would be for naught after his 7-Eleven car failed post-qualifying technical inspection. He was moved to the rear of the field.
Stanton Barrett returned to Team 3G after Jaques Lazier took his place on the ovals throughout most of summer, and after qualifying last -- nearly 12mph off of Dixon’s pole speed and 6mph off of the next slowest qualifier -- the stuntman-turned-racecar driver is a prime candidate to be yanked from the 1.52-mile oval before he’s overrun by the leaders.
