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MOTEGI, Japan (April 17, 2008) – If it keeps on rainin, levee’s goin to break – Led Zeppelin
Day-long rains kept Rahal Letterman Racing and driver Ryan Hunter-Reay (#17 Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone) under cover today at Twin Ring Motegi, wreaking such havoc at the 1.5-mile Japanese oval that IndyCar Series officials cancelled practice and qualifying before the scheduled start time for today’s practice.
IndyCar Series rules state that the field for Saturday’s Indy Japan 300 will be set by driver’s points, which means that Hunter-Reay and the RLR car will take the green flag from the 10th spot. The deluge marks the third time in six IndyCar Series races at Motegi where rains have affected the three-day event.
The starting order also slots Hunter-Reay into the top-10 on the grid for the third time in as many races in 2008 and marks the 11th time in 23 starts that a Rahal Letterman Racing machine will start in the top 10 at Motegi.
The rule that sets the grid via driver points instead of practice times actually helped the RLR cause as Hunter-Reay was 13th on the grid after two hours of practice yesterday, but the young Floridian was just 0.51 seconds behind session leader Tony Kanaan.
The rains gave the pole to points leader Helio Castroneves, who claimed his fourth Motegi pole, although two of those were awarded to him when rain cancelled qualifying. Scott Dixon starts on the outside of the front row while rookie Hideki Mutoh will join Hunter-Reay in the fifth row.
The 200-lap Indy Japan 300 will get underway tomorrow morning at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time and can be seen live on ESPN2. The race can also be seen on a tape-delayed broadcast Saturday afternoon, with airtime set for 3 p.m. Eastern. Fans can also follow all of the timing and scoring from Motegi on the official website of the IndyCar Series, www.indycar.com |
