Wheldon frustrated by missed chances

The 2005 IndyCar Series champion led the most laps at Motegi on Saturday, but he missed out on victory to Tony Kanaan because his radio wasn't working and he had to be cautious on strategy.

"The frustration of it is, you look at last year and the first races of this year, we just don't close on opportunities that really should be ours," said Wheldon.

Last year the British driver often missed out on victory at events where he had comfortably led the most laps, and he said over the winter that it had cost him the championship.

"You just can't keep doing that, it gets so frustrating," he added. "I'm in this business to win. We're costing ourselves opportunities to win through silly mistakes, it's tough to take."

Wheldon had radio problems from the start of the race, and he was disappointed to be hindered by such a simple problem.

"I got in my car before the start of the race, and one of my earpieces was not working," he said. "That's something that should be checked before you go out.

"We were being very conservative with the time that we had to pit, and perhaps some improvements we could have made with the car over the duration of the race.

"I think that's basically what really hindered us. But we are a fantastic team, and I'm looking forward to Kansas now."

Wheldon is currently leading the championship despite missing out on victory in Japan, but race winner Kanaan has closed the gap to just three points at the top of the standings.