Indy Japan 300

The Indy Japan 300 presented by Bridgestone was an Indy Racing League IndyCar Series race held at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan. The 2008 race marked the historic first ever win for a woman driver in American open wheel racing when Danica Patrick of Andretti-Green Racing took the checkered flag.

Indy Japan 300

IndyCar Series
Venue	Twin Ring Motegi
First race	1998
First IRL race	2003
Last race	2011
Distance	304 miles (489 km)
Laps	200
Previous names	Fuji 200 (1966) Budweiser 500k (1998) Firestone Firehawk 500k (1999–2001) Bridgestone Potenza 500k (2002) Indy Japan 300 (2003-2010) Indy Japan: The Final (2011)

The first American open-wheel race in Japan was held in 1966 at Fuji Speedway. Jackie Stewart won the Fuji Japan 200, which was held as an exhibition race, and no championship points were awarded. USAC did not return.

For a short period in the late 1980s and early 1990s the CART series explored the prospects of holding a race in Japan. Possible locations would be either Suzuka, Fuji, or a street course in another city. The FIA objected, citing conflicts with Formula One and other interests. In addition, rules were put into place requiring that any CART race outside of North America be held on an oval. Despite the objections, in 1991 CART made their first trip across the Pacific Ocean, and held a street race at Surfer's Paradise, Australia. The plans for a race in Japan were scrapped.

In 1994, Honda joined the CART series, and by 1996, was widely successful. Interest in holding a race in Japan resurfaced, and upon the completion of the Twin Ring Motegi oval, a race was first held in 1998 without FIA objection. The race continued as a Champ Car event through 2002. In 2003, Honda switched alliances to the Indy Racing League, and the race became an Indycar Series event. On February 9, 2011, it was announced that the series would not return to Motegi for the 2012 season.[1]

Scheduling

From 2003-2006, the race marked the final IRL race before the Indianapolis 500. The extended travel time required typically found the race held the weekend before or after Easter, leaving one or two weeks of travel and rest time until practice began at Indianapolis in early May. This situation was widely unpopular for fans, and for television, because it left a large gap in the schedule, and disrupted continuity leading to the series' premier event. In 2007, the race at Kansas Speedway was moved immediately after Motegi to be the race preceding the Indianapolis 500.

In 2008, following the open wheel unification, the race served as part of the unique "doubleheader" weekend with the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Existing IRL teams raced at Motegi, and former Champ Car teams raced at Long Beach. For 2009, in an effort to reorganize the IndyCar schedule, the race was moved to September (swapping with the MotoGP event) on the Respect-for-the-Aged Day and autumnal equinox public holidays, also kept for 2010.

Following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, it was announced that the 2011 event would be moved to the 2.98 mile road course (used by MotoGP) due to damage to the oval.[2] The 2011 event was the final running, a decision made before, and unrelated to, the earthquake and tsunami.

Past winners

Season	Date	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
USAC Championship Car history (Non-championship, Fuji)
1966	October 9	Jackie Stewart	Mecom Racing Team	Lola	Ford	80	216 (347.618)	2:03:59	104.525	Report
CART Champ Car history
1998	March 28	Adrian Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	201	311.349 (501.067)	1:57:12	159.393	Report
1999	April 10	Adrian Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	201	311.349 (501.067)	1:46:01	176.195	Report
2000	May 13	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	201	311.349 (501.067)	1:58:52	157.154	Report
2001	May 19	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	201	311.349 (501.067)	1:44:48	178.113	Report
2002	April 27	Bruno Junqueira	Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola	Toyota	201	311.349 (501.067)	2:00:05	155.447	Report
IRL IndyCar Series history
2003	April 13	Scott Sharp	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Toyota	200	309.8 (498.574)	2:21:18	129.09	Report
2004	April 16	Dan Wheldon	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	309.8 (498.574)	1:49:48	166.114	Report
2005	April 30	Dan Wheldon	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	309.8 (498.574)	2:16:46	133.365	Report
2006	April 22	Hélio Castroneves	Penske Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	309.8 (498.574)	1:59:01	153.248	Report
2007	April 21	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	309.8 (498.574)	1:52:23	162.295	Report
2008	April 20	Danica Patrick	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	309.8 (498.574)	1:51:03	164.258	Report
2009	September 19	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	309.8 (498.574)	1:51:38	163.401	Report
2010	September 18	Hélio Castroneves	Penske Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	309.8 (498.574)	2:04:04	147.008	Report
2011	September 17	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Honda	63	187.929 (302.442)	1:56:41	96.635	Report

• Qualifying record: Dan Wheldon 201.165 mph (323.743 km/h), 2004
• Race record: Dan Wheldon 166.114 mph (267.334 km/h), 2004
• Because of Open-Wheel Reunification in 2008, the 2008 Indy Japan 300 race was a half-field race. "Transitioning" teams at Long Beach raced for full IRL points despite using the former Champ Car codes.

See also

• Japanese Grand Prix

References

1. Lewandowski, Dave. "Sayonara, Twin Ring Motegi". IndyCar.com. Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
2. Series keeps Japan date, to run road course Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine

• Indy Japan 300 Official Site (in Japanese)
• Champ Car Stats