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Kanaan Quickest As Practice Begins At Twin Ring Motegi

MOTEGI, Japan, Thursday, April 17, 2008 ? Three drivers, representing the past four race winners at Twin Ring Motegi, were stashed in the top five of the speed chart as preparations began for the Indy Japan 300.

With a forecast of rain that could wash out final practice and qualifications for the PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award on April 18, the focus during two sessions of practice was on race setup.

Reigning champion Tony Kanaan grabbed the top spot with a quick lap of 27.2453 seconds (200.842 mph) in the No. 11 Team 7-Eleven car for Andretti Green Racing. Dixon had a quick lap of 200.390 mph (27.3067) in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, while two-time Motegi winner Dan Wheldon (200.250; 27.3259) was third.

Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves, the pole sitter last year and points leader coming into the 200-lap race, was fourth (200.032; 27.3556) and Vision Racing’s Ed Carpenter (199.737; 27.3960) was fifth.

FASTEST SPEEDS OF DAY:
Pos. Car Name Speed
1. 11 Tony Kanaan 200.842 mph
2. 9 Dan Wheldon 200.390 mph
3. 10 Tony Kanaan 200.250 mph
4. 3 Helio Castroneves 200.032 mph
5. 20 Ed Carpenter 199.737 mph

POST-PRACTICE QUOTES:
TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone, fastest of the day): “Overall, it was OK. We ran a full day and hopefully tomorrow will be better. I’m not quite happy with the balance of the car, but we still have two days to go and a lot of work to do. It’s Turn 4 where I’m having the problem, so we’re trying to make the car better there. Turns 3 and 4 are the key to have a balanced car for the race; that’s where you’re going to make the pass.”

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, second-fastest of the day): “We basically tried to make changes between the sessions to try and make the car better. We came up with a few things because to start off, the car was difficult to drive. We actually ran out of tires with about 10 minutes to go. We had to do another sticker run at the end, which we really didn’t want to do, and then we caught some rain, so I don’t think we got the optimum speed out of the car. I think we could have easily got into the 201’s without the weather. That was the only frustrating part of the last session.

DAN WHELDON (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, third-fastest of the day): “It was a relatively good day. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite get our second set of tires on in that second session. I think what you can see is we’ve let the car (be) on edge a little more. With that, it’s probably good that we did save that set.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone, fourth-fastest): “Today was an interesting day. The Team Penske car started off good, but then we faced a little problem. That’s why we weren’t able to do as many laps, and obviously, the rain made it a little harder on everyone. But right now, we have a good car for the race and we’ll see what happens with the weather.”

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, fifth-fastest): “We had a pretty good couple of practice sessions today and the car ran well. Obviously we are happy to put in times that are good enough for the top-five, but we also want to keep working to go faster. So far this year our oval package has been good for us so the goal now is to keep building off of that and keep improving it. I hope the rain holds off tomorrow so we can try to qualify and see how we stack up with everybody else in qualifying.”

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone, seventh-fastest): “I think we still have a bit of work to do, but it’s been good for me just learning the track again. It’s a pretty difficult circuit. Team Penske spent the day working on the setup, making gains and moving up in the field a little bit as we go. I’m really happy at how we finished after day one.”

The 2008 IndyCar Series season continues with a unique weekend – two races on two continents – the Indy Japan 300 on April 19 at Twin Ring Motegi and the Long Beach Grand Prix on April 20 on the streets of Long Beach, Calif. Points will be awarded for both races with IndyCar Series drivers participating in Japan and Champ Car World Series competitors in Long Beach. The Motegi race will be telecast in High Definition at 11:59 p.m. (EDT) by ESPN2 on April 18 and re-aired at 3 p.m. (EDT) by ESPN. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network, April 18 at 11:30 p.m. (EDT). A Spanish-language telecast of the race will be carried by ESPNDeportes. The IMS Radio Network broadcast also is carried on XM Satellite Radio and www.indycar.com. The Long Beach race will air on April 20 at 5:30 p.m. (EDT) on ESPN2. The 2008 Firestone Indy Lights season continues April 27 with the Kansas Lottery 100 at Kansas Speedway.

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