Circuit: Twin Ring Motegi (1.5-mile oval) Motegi, Japan
2009 Winner: Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) 163.401 mph average
Weather: Sunny, warm, 84 degrees F
Race Results:
| Fn. | St. | Driver | Team | Engine/Chassis | Laps | Average Speed/Notes |
| 1. | 1. | Helio Castroneves | Team Penske | Honda Dallara | 200 | 147.008 mph avg.; led 153 laps |
| 2. | 4. | Dario Franchitti | Target Chip Ganassi | Honda Dallara | 200 | -4.5746 seconds |
| 3. | 3. | Will Power | Team Penske | Honda Dallara | 200 | -5.0743 seconds |
| 4. | 2. | Ryan Briscoe | Team Penske | Honda Dallara | 200 | -6.4825 seconds; led 32 laps |
| 5. | 12. | Danica Patrick | Andretti Autosport | Honda Dallara | 200 | -7.6057 seconds |
| 6. | 11. | Scott Dixon | Target Chip Ganassi | Honda Dallara | 200 | -8.3641 seconds |
| 7. | 6. | Tony Kanaan | Andretti Autosport | Honda Dallara | 200 | -9.4093 seconds |
| 8. | 16. | Graham Rahal | Newman Haas Racing | Honda Dallara | 200 | -11.7163 seconds |
| 9. | 7. | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Honda Dallara | 200 | -12.2125 seconds |
| 10. | 9. | Dan Wheldon | Panther Racing | Honda Dallara | 200 | -12.4720 seconds |
| 11. | 5. | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | Honda Dallara | 200 | -15.5007 seconds |
| 12. | 10. | Takuma Sato-R | KV Racing Technology | Honda Dallara | 200 | -16.0693 seconds |
| 13. | 23. | Alex Tagliani | FAZZT Race Team | Honda Dallara | 200 | -17.6774 seconds |
| 14. | 17. | Hideki Mutoh | Newman Haas Racing | Honda Dallara | 200 | -18.2811 seconds |
| 15. | 8. | E.J. Viso | KV Racing Technology | Honda Dallara | 200 | -18.7349 seconds |
| 16. | 18. | Justin Wilson | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Honda Dallara | 200 | -19.4293 seconds |
| 17. | 14. | Vitor Meira | A.J. Foyt Racing | Honda Dallara | 200 | -20.1047 seconds |
| 18. | 19. | Raphael Matos | de Ferran Dragon Racing | Honda Dallara | 200 | -21.2346 seconds; led 15 laps |
| 19. | 25. | Milka Duno | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda Dallara | 197 | Running |
| 20. | 21. | Roger Yasukawa | Conquest Racing | Honda Dallara | 195 | Running |
| 21. | 15. | Alex Lloyd-R | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda Dallara | 131 | Did not finish - crash |
| 22. | 22. | Paul Tracy | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Honda Dallara | 114 | Did not finish - contact |
| 23. | 24. | Simona de Silvestro-R | HVM Racing | Honda Dallara | 85 | Did not finish - handling |
| 24. | 20. | Mario Moraes | KV Racing Technology | Honda Dallara | 66 | Did not finish - crash |
| 25. | 13. | Bertrand Baguette-R | Conquest Racing | Honda Dallara | 1 | Did not finish - crash |
| R - IndyCar Rookie | ||||||
Castroneves Dominates at Twin Ring Motegi
Enjoying a late-season surge, Helio Castroneves started from the pole and led a race-high 153 laps en route to victory Sunday at the Honda-owned Twin Ring Motegi Circuit, his second-consecutive IZOD IndyCar Series triumph.
The win was the third of the season for Castroneves, following his victory two weeks ago at Kentucky Speedway, and an April victory at Alabama's Barber Motorsports Park. Castroneves controlled the race almost from start to finish, giving up the lead only to teammate Ryan Briscoe and, briefly, to an out-of-sequence running Raphael Matos. The win moves Castroneves to third in championship points, but was not enough to put him back in title contention, with just one race remaining in the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule.
Championship rivals Dario Franchitti and Will Power finished second and third, respectively, setting up a showdown for the title in two weeks time at the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Power leads Franchitti by just 12 points and the two are the sole remaining title contenders.
All 25 drivers and teams completed the race weekend in Japan without a single failure of the Honda Indy V-8 engine. This weekend, drivers logged a total of 10,634 trouble-free miles around the unique, egg-shaped 1.5-mile oval located north of Tokyo.
Briscoe finished fourth to give an equally dominant Team Penske three of the top four finishing positions, while Danica Patrick was fast all day to round out the top five for Andretti Autosport, with teammates Tony Kanaan and Ryan Hunter-Reay finishing seventh and ninth, respectively.
Takuma Sato led home a three-driver Japanese contingent with a 12th-place finish for KV Racing. Graham Rahal made a late-race surge to finish eighth for Newman Haas Racing while Alex Tagliani climbed to 13th at the finish - after starting 23rd - for the Canadian FAZZT Race Team.
The IZOD IndyCar Series now takes a week off before its 17th and final race of 2010, the Café do Brasil Indy 300, Oct. 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.
IZOD IndyCar Series Championship (after 16 of 17 races):
| 1. Will Power | 587 (5 wins) | 6. Ryan Hunter-Reay | 426 (1 win) |
| 2. Dario Franchitti | 575 (3 wins) | 7. Tony Kanaan | 418 (1 win) |
| 3. Helio Castroneves | 501 (3 wins) | 8. Dan Wheldon | 366 |
| 4. Scott Dixon | 497 (2 wins) | 8. Marco Andretti | 366 |
| 5. Ryan Briscoe | 450 (1 win) | 10. Justin Wilson | 349 |
Helio Castroneves (#3 Team Penske Honda) started 1st, finished 1st, his 3rd win of 2010, 25th career open-wheel victory and 2nd win at Twin Ring Motegi: "That's what it's all about, perfect execution by Team Penske. The team did a great job preparing the car, and the car was fantastic and the pit stops were perfect. My car was 'on rails' today. I could drive it anywhere I wanted, just like [his previous Motegi win] 2006."
Dario Franchitti (#10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) started 4th, finished 2nd, trails Will Power by 12 points going into the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway: "We were looking pretty good there for awhile. I thought we would gain [more championship points] on Will [Power] until that final pit stop. Helio [Castroneves] was in a class by himself today, but we did our absolute best. We're ready to do it again at Miami in two weeks."
Roger Griffiths (Technical Director, Honda Performance Development) on tonight's race: "The Japanese fans appreciate their racing, and they saw a good one today. There was plenty of side-by-side action which resulted in numerous passes for position. The championship race tightened even further by virtue of Dario's finish ahead of Will, and now we go into the season finale with matters very much in doubt. Congratulations to Helio and Team Penske for a second straight victory, and to our associates at HPD and Ilmor for another perfect weekend of reliability.
