IRL: Motegi: Scott Sharp preview

Sharp Aiming for Second Bridgestone Indy^Ù Japan 300 Win

With a win and second-place finish in three starts at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit, Scott Sharp is eagerly anticipating the IndyCar Series' annual trip to Japan. Sharp won the series' inaugural race on the state-of-the-art facility's 1.5-mile oval in 2003, and his second-place run last year was the springboard to a solid campaign which netted fifth position in the final championship standings.

Sharp opened his 11th season of IndyCar Series competition in 2006 with two top-10 runs, a stark contrast to 2005 where the former series' champion watched valuable championship points fall by the wayside after being eliminated by contact in two of the first three events. He currently sits eight points outside the top-five in the standings with an eighth-place ranking.

The Bridgestone Indy^Ù Japan 300 will be broadcast on a tape-delayed basis on ESPN with coverage beginning at 12:00 pm ET on Saturday, April 22.

Scott Sharp -- At-A-Glance:
* Won the inaugural Indy Japan 300 in 2003
* Finished second at Twin Ring Motegi last year
* Recorded best starting position in Japan of third in 2005
* Currently sits eighth in the championship point standings, eight points
outside the top five
* Claimed best finish to date this season of seventh in Homestead

Scott Sharp - #8 Delphi Dallara /Honda/Firestone:
"I have liked the Motegi circuit from the moment I first saw the facility. What Honda has accomplished here is very impressive. I love the track and it is a great trip for us with the outpouring of support from the fans. The track is unique in a lot of ways. It is a challenging oval that really offers two completely different types of corners at either end of the track which makes for really exciting racing. Turns One and Two are fairly easily wide open and a great spot to be trying to draft up behind someone which, hopefully, presents a passing opportunity down the back straightaway. Turns Three and Four are much narrower and you have to get off the throttle here -- some drivers even use the brakes a little bit -- and the real mechanical balance of the car becomes critical. It is essentially one long straightaway once you come out of Turn Four all the way back around to Turn Three again, so that is probably the most important corner on the track."

-www.delphifernandezracing.net