2007 Indy Japan 300

2007 Motegi

Race details
3rd round of the 2007 IndyCar Series season
Map of the track
Date	April 21, 2007
Official name	Indy Japan 300
Location	Twin Ring Motegi
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.520 mi / 2.446 km
Distance	200 laps 304.000 mi / 489.241 km
Weather	Cloudy
Pole position
Driver	Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Time	26.6416
Fastest lap
Driver	Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Time	27.1247[1] (on lap 14 of 200)
Podium
First	Tony Kanaan (Andretti Green Racing)
Second	Dan Wheldon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Third	Dario Franchitti (Andretti Green Racing)

The 2007 Indy Japan 300 was an IndyCar Series motor race held on April 21, 2007, at the Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Tochigi, Japan. It was the third race of the 2007 IndyCar Series season, the fifth annual edition of the Indy Japan 300 in the IndyCar Series, and the tenth anniversary running of the race (including its five years on the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) schedule). Andretti Green Racing driver Tony Kanaan won the race with a 0.4828 second margin of victory over Chip Ganassi Racing's Dan Wheldon. Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, and Sam Hornish Jr. rounded out the top five.

Hélio Castroneves, the defending champion of the Indy Japan 300, won the pole position by posting the fastest lap in qualifying. In the race, Wheldon gained the lead from Castroneves on lap 44 and led for more than half of the 200 laps, but a pit stop with 14 laps remaining forced him to relinquish the top position. Kanaan took the lead because of a late pit stop by Dixon, and held off a late challenge by Wheldon to secure first place.

There were four cautions and nine lead changes among five different drivers during the race. It was Kanaan's first win of the season, and the eighth of his career. The result moved Wheldon into the lead of the Drivers' Championship, three points ahead of Kanaan. Dixon, who led the championship before the race, dropped to third.