Helio Castroneves passed Team Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe on a Lap 118 pit stop and held on to win the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi. It was his second victory in a row and second at the 1.5-mile track.
“Team Penske is about execution and they gave me a fantastic car,” said Castroneves, who backed up his win at Kentucky Speedway with the dominating win from the pole. “Every time I wanted to go for it, the car was responding.”
Dario Franchitti beat Will Power to the finish line by 0.4997 of a second to claim second place and close the championship points gap to 12 heading into the season finale Oct. 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This is the fifth consecutive year that the championship will be determined at the final race of the season.
“It’s great for us to put the Verizon car on the podium,” said Power. “I’ve never finished ahead of him (Dario) on an oval and one day I’ll get it, hopefully this year because if I don’t, he’ll win (the championship).”
The second-place finish also earned Franchitti the inaugural IZOD IndyCar Series A.J. Foyt Oval Championship.
Briscoe finished fourth, matching a career best finish at Motegi and Danica Patrick was fifth, further extending her series record for consecutive races running at the finish to 32.
Results Sunday of the Indy Japan 300 IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.52-mile Twin Ring Motegi, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (1) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
2. (4) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
3. (3) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
4. (2) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
5. (12) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
6. (11) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
7. (6) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
8. (16) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
9. (7) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
10. (9) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
11. (5) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
12. (10) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
13. (23) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
14. (17) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
15. (8) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
16. (18) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
17. (14) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
18. (19) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
19. (25) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 197, Running
20. (21) Roger Yasukawa, Dallara-Honda, 195, Running
21. (15) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 131, Contact
22. (22) Paul Tracy, Dallara-Honda, 114, Contact
23. (24) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 85, Mechanical
24. (20) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 66, Contact
25. (13) Bertrand Baguette, Dallara-Honda, 1, Contact
Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 147.008
Time of Race: 02:04:04.4780
Margin of victory: 4.5746 seconds
Cautions: 4 for 50 laps
Lead changes: 3 among 3 drivers
Lap Leaders: Castroneves 1-70, Matos 71-85, Briscoe 86-117, Castroneves 118-200.
Point Standings: Power 587, Franchitti 575, Castroneves 501, Dixon 497, Briscoe 450, Hunter-Reay 426, Kanaan 418, Wheldon 366, Andretti 366, Wilson 349.
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