A clear mission for the Ganassi racer source: irl-live.com The eighteen full-time IndyCar Series teams have shipped their equipment half way around the world to Twin Ring Motegi, Japan where this weekend they will contest the only non-US event of the 2007 season - the IndyJapan 300mile. TRM, located 100 kilometres from Tokyo in the hilly Tochigi Prefecture, features a 1.5mile oval that in recent years has been dominated by Dan Wheldon. "(Japan in) 2004 was a special moment. It was my first IndyCar Series victory and also the first victory for Honda at Motegi," said Wheldon, who backed up his 2004 performance by winning again in 2005 before finishing second to Helio Castroneves in 2006. "When you come to Japan to race the fans are so enthusiastic and dedicated to the IndyCar Series that is makes this a very special place." Wheldon summed up his plans for the Motegi weekend and the season pretty succinctly. "We are going to stop Sam (Hornish, Jr.,) from doing that double and we are going to try and stop Helio from climbing the fence again," said Wheldon referring to Hornish's 2006 championship and Castroneves unique victory celebrations. The drivers with the best chance of stopping Wheldon are Hornish, Castroneves and his team-mate Scott Dixon. These were the only drivers that had anything close to the speed of Wheldon at the series opening oval event in Homestead, Florida. The remainder of the field has to hope that the differences in the two tracks will allow them to be competitive. While both are 1.5miles in length, the TRM track has less banking and the turns at each end are completely different. Turns one and two connect to form a wide flat out corner, while turns three and four are much tighter. This forces drivers to downshift and the exit of turn four has seen numerous drivers crash over the years. "This is one of the most difficult ovals we race on all year," said Hornish, who has never won at Motegi - one of the few ovals with that distinction. "You have to find a compromise between downforce and straight-line speed and the car is never completely comfortable at either end of the race track." Scott Dixon comes in to the TRM round winless at the track, but mostly looking for another consistent finish. Having come home second at both Homestead and St. Petersburg, Dixon leads the series points by just five over Castroneves and Wheldon. "The easiest way to win a championship is consistency," said Dixon. One thing that has been consistent to most IndyCar Series visits to Japan has been the uncooperative weather. Rain drops wreaked havoc with the 2006 practice and qualifying days, and that could again happen this year. Early morning rains have moved on though they've left behind cold winds and a temperature of just 50 degrees with a reportedly high chance of afternoon precipitation. Saturday's weather looks to be better with meteorological reports indicating temperatures in the mid 60's (F) and sunny skies. Saturday, April 21 1:00 - RACE - IndyJapan 300
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