Oh So Close...

Second year IndyCar driver Mario Moraes nearly claimed his first-ever series pole starting position last night during qualifications for the Japan Indy 300. The 20-year old Brazilian, whose run came early in the qualifications order, set the mark that would stand until the last qualifier took his shot.

Moraes posted a four lap average speed of 201.504 mph on the 1.5 mile, egg-shaped Twin Ring Motegi oval in his #5 Azul Tequila-Votrantim sponsored KVRT car. It wasn't until Scott Dixon rolled the #9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing machine onto the track that Mario's time fell: Dixon's four lap average was 202.031.

While comming up short of the pole, Mario's performance was yet another sign that the youngster is comming to grips with the nuances of oval racing. After posting just a single top-ten oval finish last year (10th at Nashville), Moraes has notched two top-tens and a career best third place result at the prior series stop, Chicagoland.

"We have a really good car on ovals, and though it's a tough track I had a good car today," said Moraes. "We've been working really hard all season long. I'm happy it's my first front row. It is going to be a long race, but we will change a few things tonight and I feel confident because we already have a fast car, so hopefully we can have a good result." 

Dixon's championship rivals, teammate Dario Franchitti and Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe, will share Row Two. Danica Patrick, last year's Motegi winner, starts sixth, alongside Graham Rahal. The Japanese driver contingent - series regular Hideki Mutoh and "one-off" drivers Roger Yasukawa and Koskue Matsuura - will all be starting near the back of the field.

Here is the complete starting grid: http://www.indycar.com/stats/startinglineups/2009/motegi_09182009.pdf

The race begins at 10:30pm tonight Eastern Time/2:30am Saturday GMT, and can be seen via live video streaming at www.indycar.com.