Buddy Rice And Sarah Fisher Drives to 10th And 14th Place Finishes

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Perfect weather and clear skies laid a gorgeous backdrop for the IndyCar Series’ sole international event in its’ fifth visit to Honda’s home track of Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan.  Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Buddy Rice and Sarah Fisher drove to 10th and 14th place finishes, respectively, in one of the more difficult tracks on the IndyCar Series 17-race circuit. 

The Bridgestone Indy Japan 300 began with the 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner, Rice, in the 11th position while teammate Fisher started in the 15th position.  Fisher was quick on her peddle with the start of the race jumping three spots to 12th as the track went yellow on lap one as Japan’s own Kosuke Matsuura crashed out in Turn 2. 

In a race that found Rice as high as seventh, his team radioed for him to pit as he was in need of fuel on Lap 184 to finish the 200 lap race.  Rice finished the race in the 10th position.

“Our run today was ok,” said Rice, whose best finish at Motegi was third and came in 2005.  “This was nothing that we were looking for.  We had an eighth place car and we kind of lost it on the last step.  I think we have a little more work to do obviously to get ourselves in the top-five consistently.  This was definitely a decent run for us and we’ll keep working through it.  It just wasn’t what we were looking for in Motegi.  We’ll keep working at it.”

“Buddy ran well all day today and we had to come in for fuel at the end,” said team co-owner, Dennis Reinbold.  “We ended up with a worse result than what we were wanting.  We were looking pretty good as we were as high as seven place.  Having to pit, obviously spoiled our plans.  Buddy definitely ran a great race and we are on the verge of making some moves with him and his car.”

Teammate Fisher, struggled with a car that wasn’t cooperating with her for much of the race.  She ran as high as 12th but because the car was not consistent and rolling around the track, Fisher managed to drive to a 14th place finish in only her second visit to Motegi.

“Today was a really long day for us,” said Fisher.  “I was really disappointed in the car as it was not doing what I wanted it to do.  Motegi is a difficult track and you really have to have a consistent car.  Today, our car just wasn’t consistent for me.  We’re still learning and I think Kansas will be a nice race for us heading into Kansas next weekend.”

“Sarah had her hands full for the good chunk of the day,” added Reinbold.  “She definitely did a really good job.  She had some really good stints and was able to stay up with the leaders.  It’s just been a learning curve and getting use to everything again.  We’re getting better.  Our goal right now is to get everything ready for Indy and dialed in.  I think we’re on target for that.”

The checkered flag was captured by AGR’s Tony Kanaan edging Dan Wheldon.  The race featured only two crashes from Matsuura and Marco Andretti on Lap 1 and Lap 134, respectively. 


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