Helio Castroneves didn't have to do anything to earn pole position for this weekend's Indy Japan 300, after series officials were forced to base the grid on entrant points when qualifying was rained out.
Day-long rains wreaked havoc as officials cancelled both practice and qualifying at the 1.5-mile Japanese oval before their scheduled start time, the third time in six IndyCar Series races at Motegi that the weather has affected the three-day event.
Having been forced to watch Brazilian countryman Tony Kanaan set the pace in Thursday practice, Castroneves admitted that he was fortunate to have had the best results from rounds one and two of the season, giving himself top spot in the standings.
“I'm sitting in the right spot in the championship to be in this situation, and I'll take it," the Team Penske driver said, "We feel we have a consistent car and, in the last few years, we were very fast here, so I feel we can continue [that]. Once you have a good car and [qualifying] is rained out, you prevent a lot of competitors from improving. Hopefully, we can do what we did in 2006.”
The rain-out means that Castroneves will start from the pole for the third straight year at Twin Ring Motegi and the veteran will be hoping for a repeat of two seasons ago when, in a similar weather situation, he was awarded the pole based on entrant points before going on to lead 184 laps
en route to a 6.3secs victory over Dan Wheldon.
Wheldon's Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon, who won the season-opener on the Homestead-Miami Speedway oval, will join Castroneves on the front row, his third such start in Japan. The Kiwi was on the pole in 2003, and led 45 laps, but has yet to win at the tricky oval.
Andretti Green Racing team-mates Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti will share row two, while Wheldon is joined by a confident Danica Patrick, also representing AGR, on row three.
![Helio Castroneves - Team Penske, Homestead Open Testing [Pic credit: IndyCar Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/410776.jpg)
