Starting from pole position, Helio castroneves held a dominating lead over the field at the Japan 300, leading 153 of 200 laps to claim his 3rd win of the year at the Twin Ring Motegi Speedway in Japan climbing on track's fence for the second consecutive race infront of an enthusiastic Japanese crowd.
"Team Penske is about execution and they gave me a fantastic car. Every time I wanted to go for it, the car was responding."
Although Team Penske was dominant in the qualifying scoring a incredible 1-2-3 grid, Target Chip Ganassi's Dario Franchitti managed to break the Penske stranglehold on the podium, finishing 4.5746 seconds behind the Brazilian. The reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion took the lead on two brief occasions, but didn't have the speed or consistency to mount a serious challenge for the win, but he managed to carve 5 more points from 3rd Will Power's lead, reducing it to 12 markers with one race remaining. After all Dario Franchitti has secured the A.J. Oval Championship Trophy and commented:
“I was really the only person that could mix it up with Ryan and Helio all day. Helio was just in a class of his own in terms of sheer speed, but we could get him on the restarts occasionally. I was fighting as hard as I could with those guys. Will’s guys did a great job in the pits and got him back up into contention.”
Power, who lost track position early --falling as far back as 10th -- executed perfect pit stops all day long, improving his position by as many as three spots thanks to his pit crew. After settling down and finding a comfortable rhythm, the Australian picked off cars one by one, eventually moving ahead of teammate Briscoe to take the final spot on the podium.
Briscoe looked like the only driver other than Castroneves with enough speed to challenge for the win, but a slight bobble on the final restart relegated him to 4rth.
After the race, The Australian championship leader commented:
“I didn’t get to see Helio much. He was gone. I had a good (first) experience at Motegi; I know how to run in traffic now. I’ve never finished ahead of (Franchitti) on an oval and one day I’ll get it. Hopefully, this year because if I don’t he’ll win.”
Following up with her best performance since Texas in June, Danica Patrick was fast and steady throughout every phase of the Indy Japan 300 in the track where she celebrated her first ever Indy victory, proving that Twin ring is one of her most enjoyable tracks. Although qualified 12th -- behind her Andretti Autosport teammates -- Patrick steadily moved forward. She finally finished 5th scoring another top-5 in oval tracks, while Tony Kanaan finished 7nth, Ryan Hunter-Reay 9th and Marco Andretti 11th.
Scott Dixon, the winner a year ago at Motegi, improved from 11th to sixth, but never factored at the front of the pack. Unlike Power who had Castroneves and Briscoe running in close proximity supporting him, Franchitti was left to race without the benefit of his team-mate who couldnt speed up in the front.
Dan Wheldon rounded out the top-10 -- a relative disappointment after taking top finishes in the last two rounds -- but delivered a heady drive nonetheless. Wheldon and Rahal were the only two cars outside of the Penske/Ganassi/Andretti camps to crack the top-10.
Of the three Japanese drivers in the field, Takuma Sato made an impressive recovery from his crash in practice to lead the rest Japanese drivers and driving composed and relaxed infront of his home crowd he finished 12th which is his best finish on an oval track. Hideki Mutoh finished 14th and Roger Yasugawa was 20th, 7 laps behind the leading field. Moreover, Takuma Sato topped all three of KV Racing's entries as E.J. Viso finished 15th while Mario Moraes crashed on lap 66 in Turn 2. Surprisingly just before Morae's crash excessive amounts of sparks were seen coming from the left rear of Moraes' car before he spun. The young Brazilian was taken to the hospital for observation.
With one race to go in the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season, the championship battle will be determined once again at season;s finale at Homestead.
Franchitti showed his hand last year, embarking on a fuel economy run almost from the outset that ultimately delivered his second IndyCar Series title. While the Scot is clearly capable of repeating that performance again, the biggest question to answer is whether Will Power can hold back to mimic Franchitti's strategy if the Scot goes on another fuel saving mission.
Power has shown the ability to dance on the edge of disaster on the ovals, but if his main championship rivals opts for restraint rather than raw speed ala Homestead 2009, can the Aussie adapt and follow in his footsteps?
With a 12-point deficit to overcome, Franchitti can earn 13 points at Homestead with the one point for pole position, the two points for leading the most laps, and the 10 points a win pays over second. Yet, unless Franchitti has a perfect weekend, or if Power finishes well behind the No. 10 Target car, Team Penske could be staring at their first championship since 2006 when Sam Hornish Jr. captured the title for The Captain.
