We were lied to, Motegi oval not damaged

The Motegi oval is just fine after all

We were told many times that IndyCar could no longer race on the Motegi oval because it was damaged from the Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami of March 11th in 2011.

We were lied to.

Takuma Sato ran his IndyCar around the track at speed as part of Honda’s ‘Thanks Day’ event in 2017, and the circuit has confirmed to Motorsport Week that the oval course is “not damaged… but we don’t use it for racing now". This suggests that if any repairs are needed, the costs should be reasonable, perhaps a resurfacing.

The tremors and aftershocks damaged the oval circuit, having formed ‘waves’ on the surface, to such an extent that it was deemed unsuitable for racing use, but a grinding machine or resurfacing apparently made quick work of that issue.

Could IndyCar return to the circuit? With track-owner Honda still heavily involved as an engine supplier and NTT the new series sponsor, quite a few of the pieces seem to be in place, but Mark Miles is in the way.

He insists that any overseas races take place in February.

The Japanese winter in February is not conducive to racing IndyCars.

So Mark Miles has to move out of the way and change his insistence on a January or February date, or IndyCar won't be going back to Japan.

With the Iowa and Pocono oval races seemingly living on borrowed time, Miles may have no choice but to replace those two events in the summer with an overseas swing to Japan and Australia.