Castroneves Cruises in Japan
Written by Douglas Brown · April 23, 2006
Watching the Japan 300 yesterday brought about one of my worst fears about the IRL this and any other season: It’s gonna get BORING watching the Big Three - Penske, Andretti Green and Ganassi - run away from everyone else.
Paddock Talk: Castroneves Dominates Motegi
Motorsport.Com: From Motegi practice to race, Castroneves on top
Crash.Net: Wheldon settles for second
In what many see as the Indy 500 preview, Castroneves dominated the run at Twin Ring Motegi while the race itself had a few needless incidents (sorry, Scott Sharp) and little else. The press will have Helio as the favorite for next month’s big event, and we all know how well Penske shows at Indy, so it’d be no suprise to see he and Sam Hornish, Jr. running at the top all month long.
Buddy Rice and Danica Patrick ran impressive races because their equipment is starting to show it’s promise beneath them. Given rain washed qualifying and they’re one race behind in points, they started 18th and 14th, respectively and each made some nice moves to get into the top 10. The only real surprise, to me, was Matsuura who made it to 7th and is now 6th in overall points.
I hope Indy holds more for us than Motgei did. Since it is INDY, I’m sure it will.
FINAL RESULTS, JAPAN 300
1. (1) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 200, $176,100
2. (3) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $136,050
3. (5) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $113,350
4. (4) Sam Hornish Jr., Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $91,100
5. (18) Buddy Rice, Panoz-Honda, 200, Running $83,000
6. (7) Bryan Herta, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $72,900
7. (6) Kosuke Matsuura, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running $72,800
8. (14) Danica Patrick, Panoz-Honda, 200, Running $68,900
9. (2) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running $68,900
10. (11) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running $66,800
11. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running $64,700
12. (17) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running $62,900
13. (12) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 196, Running $61,000
14. (15) Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Honda, 195, Running $58,700
15. (9) Felipe Giaffone, Dallara-Honda, 155, Running $56,800
16. (8) Scott Sharp, Dallara-Honda, 42, Accident $54,900
17. (16) P.J. Chesson, Dallara-Honda, 40, Accident $52,800
18. (20) Jeff Simmons, Panoz-Honda, 40, Accident $52,800
19. (13) Tomas Enge, Dallara-Honda, 25, Accident $50,700
20. (19) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 25, Accident $48,800
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 153.248 mph
Time of race: 1:59:01.3704
Margin of victory: 6.3851 seconds
Cautions: 3 for 32 laps
Lead changes: 10 among 6 drivers
Lap leaders: Castroneves 1-24, Wheldon 25-29, Castroneves 30-93, Kanaan 94, Dixon 95-96, Scheckter 97-99, Meira 100, Castroneves 101-146, Dixon 147-149, Meira 150, Castroneves 151-200.
Point standings: Castroneves 146, Wheldon 104, Hornish 94, Dixon 92, Kanaan 89, Matsuura 80, Herta 77, Meira 64, Franchitti 63, Giaffone 61.
Comments
3 Responses to “Castroneves Cruises in Japan”
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Never thought I’d read these words from my hand: Lose Rusty Wallace and bring back Todd Harris!
See pressdogs review of the IRL race in our forum to get a better understanding of what I refer to.
This was a ho hummer - it seemed like everyone was follow the leader, which they didn’t do very well.
You have to admit as a color man, Rusty adds color. I don’t believe you can jump on a guy after only a few races. DO NOT, under any circumstances bring back Todd Harris (he lacks color and anything else you want to fill in).
Good point Will, what the hell was I thinking? But if you read pressdogs description of Rusty’s color work, just remember this; his writing may be sarcasm but it’s not far off the mark!