Castroneves clinches Indy 300 Japan win

Castroneves dominates in Japan

Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves won his second consecutive IZOD IndyCar Series race with a dominating performance at the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi on Sunday 19 September, meaning the fight for the championship title goes to the final round.

Castroneves, who started from pole, fell back to fifth position after a race restart but retook the lead from his Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe during a pit stop on lap 118 and held on through to lap 200 to earn his third win of the season.

Castroneves finished the race nearly 5 seconds ahead of second place finisher Dario Franchitti (Target Chip Ganassi Racing). Championship points leader Will Power (Team Penske) came in third, allowing Franchitti to close the gap in the overall championship standings to 12 points heading into the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday 2 October.

Firestone tyres were unbelievable!
"Let me tell you - the Firestone Firehawk tires were UNBELIEVABLE. Honestly, we ran the last stint on the qualifying tires. From the first of the stint to the end, honestly, we ran with almost exactly the same lap times as when we were on new tires. So, Firestone, thank you so much for the tires."

Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda/ Firestone

Congratulations to Helio for his Japan win
"Congratulations to Helio and Team Penske for a dominating performance today. Our engineers came up with a great tire specification for this event, and I am extremely pleased with the tire performance from the beginning to the end. The conditions here were unusually hot, but the tires held up with no problems. This is always a special event for Firestone Racing because of its proximity to our parent company Bridgestone's Tokyo headquarters. We all enjoyed a great day at the races, and are looking forward to coming back next year."
Al Speyer, Executive Director, Firestone Racing