Danica Patrick made history on Sunday as the first ever female Indy Car winner, taking the Indy Japan 300 race in her 50th start in the series. The American covered 200 laps over the 1.52-mile (2.5-kilometre) Twin Ring Motegi oval in one hour 51 minutes 02.6739, beating Helio Castroneves of Brazil into second and Scott Dixon of New Zealand into third.
Castroneves timed 1:51:08.5333 and Dixon 1:51:12.7298, ahead of Dan Wheldon of Britain and Tony Kanaan of Brazil. After three years on the circuit the glamorous brunette was relieved to chalk up a win at last.
"Finally. This is a long time coming," said Patrick, who turned 26 three weeks ago. "I've been asked so many times when I'm going to win my first race, and finally, no more of those questions."
Patrick made her IndyCar debut in 2005 after years on European junior formula tours and in the Toyota Atlantic series. Her previous best finish was second place at Detroit last September. "I had a lot of opportunities last year that were missed due to bad luck. I can only say I'm just glad it's over," she said.
With six laps remaining, Dixon had a 3.6-second lead but had to enter the pits for fuel on lap 195. Then Wheldon and Kanaan had to follow suit on lap 196.
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