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| You’ve
gotta believe
Toyota
when they
say “they are working hard to catch up with Honda horsepower
with their engines.” They even got permission from IndyCar
officials to “think outside the box,” as in the restrictive
area of their engine rules, in an attempt to solve their
horsepower shortcomings. You also gotta believe that Honda,
going into their most important event, wasn’t sitting on their
R&D fanny either, and as in the past, they managed to beat
Toyota
to the punch
again. If anything, I think
Toyota
is even further behind after today’s race than before.
You also gotta believe that Chevy hasn’t thrown it the towel;
they appear close to matching Honda gain for gain. You have also
gotta believe that going into the Japan Indy 300, Danica
Patrick, starting in the front row, had butterflies in her
stomach as big as eagles, but if that bothered her, it never
showed. Read
the rest of the Motegi recap here.
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| Photo of Sam
Hornish Courtesy of
Toyota Motorsports. IndyCar photo of Danica Patrick by Michael
Voorhees.
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| It isn't the fact that Sam
Hornish Jr and Danica Patrick share the front row for the Japan
Indy 300 that gives me cause to suspect that this Indy 500 will
be so special this year, it's the lessons learned this week at
Motegi that support my contention. Motegi offers up a 200-mph
oval where the IndyCars use the "speedway" wing
package, not exactly the same as the IMS version, but close
enough. The first three races of the season were Dallara
dominated, and there was little indication that the Panoz
chassis, in 2005 updated form was nearly as competitive as it
was in 2004, that is until yesterday. When all Honda teams that
use the Panoz chassis showed vast improvements
in Motegi practice and qualifying, and were able to split the
AGR forces on the grid, all I can conclude is that Panoz has
found something that "hooked" the cars up. In the
engine department, it appears that little has changed on the
Toyota front, with Team Penske fast as usual and the others
struggling. I think that is deceptive, Motegi isn't exactly a
horsepower palace, and yesterday was actually "hot"
there, making handling an issue. Toyota was granted a rules
exception on their engines, and this the first time they have
raced in this configuration. Read more about yesterday at Motegi
and the Japan Indy 300 here...
Also, the link to Thursday's
P&G
coverage is here... and the Wednesday report and pictures
are here...
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Courtesy of
Toyota Motorsports |
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| (4-28-05, 5:30 PM, EDT) As
evident in the above picture of the AJ Foyt IV Dallara, sporting
new sponsorship in the Motegi pits, the later race date has
provided better weather then seen at past Motegi races, and the
same good forecast awaits the teams today for P&Q runs. I
expect even more in the speed department today, since before
practice starts, all the teams will install fresh engines in the
cars. Toyota and Honda are putting on a show for the home folks,
but don't count Panther Racing out just yet. With no nationality
issues to foster, I expect Tomas Scheckter and Tomas Enge spent
most of the first day working race setup, I look for them to be
top ten contenders in "Q" runs later today. Practice
starts earlier today, 8:30 PM EDT, less than three hours from
now. Look for P&G
coverage here... Also, don't miss the yesterday wrap-up and
pictures here..
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(4-27-05) The cars are on the track, I will cover this session
and then come back later and recap the day. Follow my commentary here...
AN
UPDATE... I have finished the Motegi Day 1 recap, commented on
"teams in lockstep," "where are the Chevy"
questions, and highlighted two surprising results from
yesterday's practice and posted some pictures. Same
link...
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