2006 Indy Japan 300
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1.520 mi / 2.446 km
| Race details | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3rd round of the 2006 IndyCar season
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 Layout of the Twin Ring Motegi circuit | |||||
| Date | April 22, 2006 | ||||
| Official name | Indy Japan 300 | ||||
| Location | Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, Japan | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.520 mi / 2.446 km | ||||
| Distance | 200 laps 304.000 mi / 489.241 km | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver |  Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske) | ||||
| Time | No time | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) | ||||
| Time | 27.2804 (on lap 171 of 200) | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske) | ||||
| Second |  Dan Wheldon (Chip Ganassi Racing) | ||||
| Third | Tony Kanaan (Andretti Green Racing) | ||||
| Chronology | |||||
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The 2006 Indy Japan 300 was an IndyCar Series motor race held on April 22, 2006, in Motegi, Japan, at Twin Ring Motegi. It was the third round of the 2006 IndyCar Series season, the ninth running of the event, and the only race of the season to be held in Japan. Marlboro Team Penske driver Hélio Castroneves won the 200-lap race. Dan Wheldon, driving for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, finished second, and Tony Kanaan finished third for Andretti Green Racing.
Castroneves was awarded the pole position after rainy conditions washed out the qualifying session. He maintained the lead for the first 24 laps before struggling to pass a slower car, handing the lead to Wheldon for five laps. After Tomáš Enge and Ed Carpenter crashed, the leaders entered pit road for fresh tires and fuel, and Castroneves emerged ahead of Wheldon, thus giving him the lead for the next 64 laps. Castroneves pitted again on lap 94, and the lead was swapped among four drivers in the next six laps before he regained the lead again on lap 101. Castroneves continued his pure dominance, leading another 46 consecutive laps before coming in for his final pit stop on lap 147. Scott Dixon, who led five laps and had the momentum to steal the victory, stalled his engine during his final pit stop. Castroneves was not challenged by any other driver and led the final 50 laps en route to his ninth IndyCar victory and his second consecutive win of the season.
Castroneves' win allowed him to extend his Drivers' Championship lead with 146 points, 42 more than Wheldon. Dixon's poor result gave him a total of 92 points, falling back to fourth in the standings while Sam Hornish Jr. improved his position to third with 94 points. Kanaan, who overcame an unscheduled pit stop with less than 80 laps to go, maintained the fifth position with 89 points.
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The Indy Japan 300 was confirmed to be included in IndyCar's 2006 schedule in September 2005.[1] It was the 3rd of 14 scheduled races for 2006, the ninth annual edition of the event (fourth edition under IndyCar sanctioning), and the only race of the season to be held outside of the United States.[2] It was held at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit, a four-turn, 1.5 mi (2.4 km) paved oval track in Motegi, Tochigi, Japan. Dan Wheldon was the defending race winner, and was looking to win the race for the third consecutive year, a feat that no driver in the Indy Racing League had done before.[3][4] Entering the race, Marlboro Team Penske driver Hélio Castroneves led the Drivers' Championship standings with 93 points. Scott Dixon was in second with 70 points. Wheldon fell to third, only obtaining 64 points. Sam Hornish Jr., with 62 points, was in fourth, and Tony Kanaan and Kosuke Matsuura tied for fifth with 54 points each.[5]
The day before an open test session was conducted for the upcoming Indianapolis 500, Rahal Letterman Racing named Jeff Simmons, a seven-time winner in the Indy Pro Series, as the full-time driver of their No. 17 car for the remainder of the 2006 season, beginning at Motegi.[6] The seat was originally vacated by Paul Dana, though he was killed in a morning warm-up crash prior to the race at Homestead–Miami Speedway.[7] Team co-owner Bobby Rahal explained why Simmons was chosen to replace Dana:
"Jeff is a driver that I think has a great deal of potential and a very bright future. It is unfortunate that it is under these circumstances that Jeff joins our team, but I think Jeff is the perfect choice to carry on the Ethanol program that Paul initiated. Jeff has paid his dues and worked his way up through the ladder system. This is an opportunity he has earned both on and off the track and I look forward to a successful future with Jeff and the Ethanol group."[8]
On April 13, Cheever Racing announced that their No. 51 car, normally driven by Eddie Cheever, would be driven by Tomáš Enge during the event, as Cheever chose to compete in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series race at Virginia International Raceway.[9] Enge later revealed that he received the news while testing a V8 supercar in Australia; he then traveled to his home country, the Czech Republic, to secure a visa for the race, and traveled to Indianapolis to complete paperwork for IndyCar before finally arriving in Japan.[10] This race also marked the return of Ed Carpenter, who was injured at Homestead in the same crash that killed Dana, and was forced to miss the race at St. Petersburg.[11]
Practice and qualifying
Four practice sessions were scheduled to precede the race on Saturday; the first two were scheduled for Thursday (both 90 minutes), and the last two for Friday (90 minutes and 30 minutes).[12] However, rain began falling at the track on Thursday shortly before 10:30 AM local time, forcing IndyCar to delay the first practice session. Thursday's schedule was later updated to extend the afternoon practice session to 110 minutes and outright cancel the morning practice session.[13] Castroneves set the fastest lap of the session with a time of 27.1937 seconds, ahead of Kanaan, Hornish Jr., Tomas Scheckter, and Scott Sharp.[14] The only incident of the day occurred at 4:41 PM local time, when Hornish Jr. slammed into the SAFER barriers with the rear of his car in turns three and four.[13] Hornish Jr. was uninjured, and later said that the back end of his car just snapped loose entering the third turn.[15]
On Friday, the track was again drenched in heavy rainfall, and IndyCar officials cancelled the morning practice session and the qualifying session.[16] The starting grid was determined by entrant points because officials felt that the second group of drivers did not receive equal practice time, and thus, Castroneves was awarded the pole position for the tenth time in his career.[17] At 2:30 PM local time, the twenty drivers took to the now-dried track for their final practice session, which had been lengthened to 90 minutes.[10] Once again, Castroneves topped the speed charts for the session with a fastest time of 27.1464 seconds, ahead of Wheldon, Sharp, Buddy Rice, and Kosuke Matsuura.[18] Simmons was involved in the only incident of the day when his car slammed the barriers in turn four and came to rest alongside the inside barrier with 14 minutes remaining.[10] Simmons was uninjured, though the car was destroyed and his team resorted to a back-up car.[17]
Qualifying classification
| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
| R | Rookie |
| W | Past winner |
