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Dixon leads Motegi opening practice

Scott Dixon had the fastest lap in the opening practice session Thursday for the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi

Dixon was clocked at 27.3348 seconds - 200.184 mph - in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Honda/Dallara, just 0.04 seconds faster than teammate Dan Wheldon.

The 18-car field will hold another practice session Thursday. Qualifying is set for Friday at 12:30 a.m. EDT; the race is scheduled to begin shortly after 12 a.m. Saturday.

The race is one of two points events this weekend for the IndyCar Series. Champ Car teams, some of which are making the transition to the IndyCar Series, are competing this weekend in the final Champ Car race at Long Beach.

Following Dixon and Wheldon on the timesheet in the first practice session were Andretti Green Racing teammates Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti. Kanaan was clocked at 199.661 mph in the No. 11 AGR Honda/Dallara, while Andretti was clocked at 199.165 mph in the No. 26 AGR Honda/Dallara.

Fifth-fastest was series points leader Helio Castroneves, followed by Danica Patrick, Ed Carpenter and Hideki Mutoh. A.J. Foyt IV and Darren Manning rounded out the top ten.

The 18 cars completed 764 laps around the 1.52-mile oval in the first session.

Pos  Driver              Speed     Time      Laps
 1.  Scott Dixon         200.184   27.3348    47
 2.  Dan Wheldon         199.863   27.3788    43
 3.  Tony Kanaan         199.661   27.4065    36
 4.  Marco Andretti      199.165   27.4747    50
 5.  Helio Castroneves   198.521   27.5639    43
 6.  Danica Patrick      198.303   27.5942    35
 7.  Ed Carpenter        198.165   27.6134    40
 8.  Hideki Mutoh        197.794   27.6651    46
 9.  AJ Foyt IV          197.650   27.6853    40
10.  Darren Manning      197.558   27.6982    18
11.  Buddy Rice          196.995   27.7774    46
12.  Ryan Briscoe        196.190   27.8914    51
13.  Townsend Bell       196.116   27.9018    32
14.  Vitor Meira         195.582   27.9780    35
17.  Marty Roth          191.638   28.5538    57
18.  Roger Yasukawa      190.571   28.7137    37
15.  Ryan Hunter-Reay    194.878   28.0791    37
16.  Jay Howard          194.297   28.1630    61

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