Kanaan Records Top-Five Finish at Motegi

Kanaan Records Top-Five Finish at Motegi

MOTEGI, Japan (April 20, 2008) - Tony Kanaan, driver of the Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda, finished fifth at Sunday's Indy Japan 300 at the Honda-owned Twin Ring Motegi. Kanaan currently stands fourth in the IndyCar Series championship after three events, only 11 points out of second place.

Kanaan's Team 7-Eleven machine was one of the quickest cars on track for the entire race and he never found himself outside the top-five cars on his sequence. With only 50 laps remaining, Kanaan was running third and would stay there until the top-three cars all came in for a splash of fuel with five laps remaining. It was during that time that Danica Patrick and Helio Castroneves were able to get around the leaders by staying on track after conserving fuel over the final 50 laps. Kanaan's teammate, Motorola driver Danica Patrick, recorded the first victory of her IndyCar Series career. She was followed across the line by Castroneves, Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon who finished second, third and fourth, respectively.

The next race on the IndyCar Series schedule is the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 from Kansas Speedway. ESPN2 will provide live broadcast coverage of the event at 5 p.m. (EDT). XM Satellite Radio will also provide live coverage of the event on XM channel 145, the official home of the IndyCar Series.

Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
"The Team 7-Eleven car was good today but we seemed to miss on the strategy. It's pretty frustrating but it is what it is."

George Klotz, Race Strategist, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
"It was a pretty good day. Unfortunately it didn't roll our way. We were up front all day but this turned out to be a fuel race and that's the way it goes. I couldn't be happier for Danica (Patrick) and Kyle (Moyer) and the whole Motorola team. We're all proud to be a part of this."

Published 4/21/08