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Location | 120-1 Hiyama, Motegi Haga, Tochigi, 321-3597 Japan |
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Capacity | 68,156 |
Owner | Honda |
Operator | Mobilityland Corporation, Ltd. |
Opened | August 1997 |
Construction cost | ¥5 billion |
Major events |
MotoGP Super GT Super Formula MFJ Superbike Super Taikyu IZOD IndyCar Series (former) |
Super speedway | |
Length | 2.493 km (1.549 mi) |
Turns | 4 |
Banking | Turns = 10° |
Lap record | 0:26.425 ( Tony Kanaan, Mo Nunn Racing, 2002, Champ Car) |
Road course | |
Length | 4.8 km (2.983 mi) |
Turns | 14 |
Lap record | 1:32.839 ( Kazuki Nakajima, TOM'S, 2013, Super Formula) |
East road course | |
Length | 3.400 km (2.112 mi) |
Turns | 11 |
West road course | |
Length | 1.400 km (0.869 mi) |
Turns | 6 |
Twin Ring Motegi (ツインリンクもてぎ Tsuin Rinku Motegi?) is a motorsport race track located at , Japan. Its name comes from the facility having two race tracks: a 2.493-kilometer (1.549 mi) oval and a 4.8-kilometer (2.98 mi) road course. It was built in 1997 by Honda, as part of the company's effort to bring the IndyCar Series to Japan, helping to increase their knowledge of American open-wheel racing.
The oval course is the only one of its kind in Japan, and currently is only used once a year for racing. It is a low-banked, 1.549-mile-long egg-shaped course, with turns three and four being much tighter than turns one and two. On March 28, 1998, CART held the inaugural race at Twin Ring Motegi Speedway. The race was won by Mexican driver Adrian Fernandez. CART continued racing at Twin Ring Motegi Speedway from 1998–2002. In 2003, Honda entered the Indy Racing League and the race became a part of the IRL schedule. In addition to Indycar racing, the track has also hosted a single NASCAR exhibition race in 1998.
Honda, which had built the oval for the express purpose of developing its oval-racing program for Indy car racing, did not win a race at the track for its first six years of operation. In 2004, Dan Wheldon took the first win for Honda on the oval. In 2008, the Motegi oval gained additional publicity when Danica Patrick became the first woman to win an Indycar race, beating Helio Castroneves for her first and only Indycar victory to date.