IndyCar

Motegi: Dreyer & Reinbold Racing preview

DREYER & REINBOLD RACING READY FOR TWIN RING MOTEGI Motegi, Japan (September 17, 2009)- After a needed two-week break, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is rejuvenated and ready for the Japan Indy 300 at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit this weekend. This ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:12 PM

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DREYER & REINBOLD RACING READY FOR TWIN RING MOTEGI

Motegi, Japan (September 17, 2009)- After a needed two-week break, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is rejuvenated and ready for the Japan Indy 300 at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit this weekend. This will mark Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's seventh time to compete at the 1.5-mile oval, and who better to do it with than three racing pros, Mike Conway who will pilot the No. 24 DRR machine, Tomas Scheckter who will get behind the wheel of the No. 23 MonaVie car, and Roger Yasukawa who will be driving the No. 43 DRR chassis.

Tomas Scheckter is ready to conquer his unfinished business at Twin Ring Motegi. In 2005, who at the time was the pilot of the No. 4 Panther Racing machine, was leading the race and with two laps to go ran out of fuel. After a stop in Maui, Hawaii and Tokyo, Japan, making MonaVie appearances, the South African is re-energized and completely prepared to earn his third IndyCar victory and finish what he started five years ago.

With eight starts for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing under his belt, Scheckter is ready to visit Japan for the sixth time. He has had much success at the 1.5 mile oval with two top-ten finishes (10-2005, 9-2007), led 86 laps in five starts at the track, and his best start was fourth in 2003. Scheckter has had eight pole positions, all of which were on ovals (2002-Texas 1,Kansas, Michigan; 2003-Texas 1, Michigan; 2005-Homestead, Texas, Nashville). He has also won twice, both on ovals (Michigan, 2002; Texas, 2005). His best result this season was sixth at Iowa. He also finished an eighth place result at Chicagoland Speedway making it his second top-10 finish this season.

Mike Conway will be making his debut appearance at Twin Ring Motegi this weekend. To date, he has made it into the Firestone Fast Six twice on road courses (Watkins Glen and Toronto) and his best qualifying position on an oval has been 11th (Milwaukee and Richmond). Conway's best results on a road course were sixth and third (Watkins Glen and Sonoma) and on an oval was eighth in Iowa. With his sights still set on Rookie of the Year honors, he sits in 16th position, 40 points behind current Rookie of the Year leader Raphael Matos.

Making his return to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is Japanese-American Roger Yasukawa, who will be driving the No. 23 DRR machine. It was announced in February that he would pilot a third DRR machine for the Indy Japan 300 event, marking his fifth start at the Japan circuit. In 38 IndyCar Series starts, 18 of which with Dreyer & Reinbold, Yasukawa has finished in the top-ten nine times with a best finish of seventh (twice).

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will be on track for the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi September 19th. The race will be telecast live in HD at 10:30 p.m. (EDT) September 18th on VERSUS. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network, XM channel 145. The radio broadcast also will be carried on www.indycar.com. The qualifying show airs Friday, September 18th at 6 p.m. EDT.

What they have to say--

Mike Conway, No. 24 DRR: "I'm really looking forward to the upcoming Motegi race. It will be my first time to compete at the oval track, but I've been to the go-kart circuit, so I can't wait to get back. I enjoy Tokyo, it's a lot of fun there and I always enjoy visiting. It's the second to last race of the season and it's a good chance for us to get some more points and move a bit further up in the championship and maybe get the rookie of the year honors. In between that I have been training in preparation of the upcoming race. I went to Scottsdale, Arizona for four days to see friends and family, which was nice and relaxing, but I'm ready to get back to racing."

Tomas Scheckter, No. 23 MonaVie: "I'm really looking forward to Japan. I love the track and it's a wide, smooth circuit. I've run well there in the past and in 2005 I was leading with two laps to go and ran out of fuel, so I have some unfinished business there. I enjoy the track, the city and Tokyo. MonaVie has a great following in Japan, so looking forward to meeting the people and earning another good result coming off of Chicago. We ran really be competitive there and I think we have improved the cars a little bit more and I'm looking for a good result for the MonaVie/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing crew."

Roger Yasukawa, No. 43 DRR: "I am really looking forward to getting back in the car and racing at the Indy Japan 300 race at Twin Ring Motegi. I also want to thank the team for making this possible, and I am so glad to be back as part of the Dreyer and Reinbold Racing family. The team has grown each year and with the addition of Larry Curry who is going to engineer my car, I have no doubt that we will have a real competitive car this weekend. Although it's always difficult to do a one off race, I have two great teammates (Mike and Tomas) who can really help me out on getting up to speed as well as sharing the data for car set-ups. The weather forecast is looking good so far and I am super excited about being able to run in front of my fans, family, and friends!"

-credit: drr

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