Brisbane-born Kiwi Scott Dixon will be looking to extend his points advantage over Helio Castroneves when the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner leads the IndyCar Series field to Iowa Speedway’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer, this weekend.

The Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer is round eight of the IndyCar Series of which the ‘home race’ of Dixon, Sydney’s Ryan Briscoe and Queensland’s Will Power – Australia’s Gold Coast Indy 300 – is a part.

The pole winner of the corresponding round last year, Dixon is currently 35 points clear in the championship standings after taking the win in Texas earlier this month - with that win seeing him share the podium with fellow 'Trans-Tasman' driver Briscoe for the second race in a row.

While Dixon was the pole sitter, he isn't the only one with Iowa history on his side with Andretti Green Racing taking the race 1-2 in 2007 with Dario Franchitti leading Marco Andretti across the finish line of what was the inaugural Iowa hit-out.

Also one to watch will be Vitor Meira, who led 71 laps at Iowa last year before finishing ninth. The Panther Racing driver comes to Iowa on the heels of a second-place finish at Indianapolis and 12 led laps plus seventh in Texas where he led 38 laps.

Like Meira, Power also heads to Iowa on strong form, and is looking forward to the ‘maximum downforce’ set-up required at the short tracks such as Iowa and Richmond International Raceway which is next on the calendar.

Australian fans can catch the Iowa Speedway action live by tuning in to ESPN on Monday the 23rd of June 3.30am with a re-run at 7.00pm that evening.

Following the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer the unified series will continue on a schedule that is the most diverse in world motorsports.

The 2008 schedule will take the teams and drivers to short ovals, superspeedways, and road and street courses including the Gold Coast Indy 300 which is regarded as a ‘crown jewel’ in international motorsport.

With 96 hours of non-stop excitement over October 23-26 as the Gold Coast comes alive to the sound of the IndyCars burning up the track and Australia’s own V8 Supercars scorching around one of the most famous beach-side cities in the world, the event is the hottest ticket in town.

Tickets are now on sale for the Gold Coast Indy 300 with ticket options to suit everyone's needs. Four day Grandstand passes are available for those who prefer to watch the racing from the comfort of their own reserved seat or for those who prefer to wander around and soak up the atmosphere then a four day, weekend or single day General Admission pass might be more their style. For more information on ticket options go to indy.com.au. For information on Corporate Hospitality packages please call our Sales Team on (07) 5588 6800.

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY…

Scott Dixon - #9 Target Chip Ganassi Honda/Dallara/Firestone
(After his Texas win)
"I can't believe it. It's great for the team and great for Target. We just want to win this championship,” said Dixon.

“I'm sorry to see it end under caution, but it's a great way to get some points for this championship. Dan (Wheldon) did a great job coming from the back, and I saw him looming there for a little while. I don't know what to say.

“We finally won at Texas, and I'm pretty happy about that. Mike Hull and (engineers) Eric (Bretzman) and Brian (Welling) did a good job getting me to aim for a fuel number. I had to be very close to the end, but so was everyone else. I think we would have been on the edge, but I think we would have been all right if it went green to the end."

Will Power - #8 Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia Honda/Dallara/Firestone
“At Iowa I can see that it's a short, banked oval, and I'm not sure that you are flat all the way around during the race, but it looks like it's good racing because you can run high and low,” said Power.

“But also it can catch you out. Until I go there, I don't really know, but I'm looking forward to it because you're running maximum downforce.

“I think where these other guys have got us is all of the work they've done on wind tunnel and wheel bearings, coatings for the gear box and all of those little things that add up to the mile and a half or two mile an hour they have over us on the faster ovals, but when you're running maximum downforce, that doesn't count.

“It's more about the car balance, and that's the reason that we can run up front and obviously shorter ovals helps me a little bit, too, because I raced in Milwaukee once in 2006, and I really enjoy running around short ovals, because when you have got full downforce, it's a lot like a road course and you go take a proper racing line, and it's all about just holding it flat and just running the car as free as possible.”

ENTRY LIST: IndyCar® Series – Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer
Car - Driver - Entrant
2 - A.J. Foyt IV - Vision Racing
3 - Helio Castroneves - Team Penske
4 - Vitor Meira - Panther Racing
5 - Oriol Servia - KV Racing Technology
6 - Ryan Briscoe - Team Penske
7 - Danica Patrick - Andretti Green Racing
8 - Will Power (R) - KV Racing Technology
9 - Scott Dixon - Target Chip Ganassi Racing
10 - Dan Wheldon - Target Chip Ganassi Racing
11 - Tony Kanaan - Andretti Green Racing
14 - Darren Manning - A.J. Foyt Enterprises
15 - Buddy Rice - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
17 - Ryan Hunter-Reay - Rahal Letterman Racing
18 - Bruno Junqueira - Dale Coyne Racing
19 - Mario Moraes (R) - Dale Coyne Racing
20 - Ed Carpenter - Vision Racing
23 - Milka Duno - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
24 - John Andretti - Roth Racing
25 - Marty Roth - Roth Racing
26 - Marco Andretti - Andretti Green Racing
27 - Hideki Mutoh (R) - Andretti Green Racing
33 - E.J. Viso (R) - HVM Racing
34 - Jaime Camara (R) - Conquest Racing
36 - Enrique Bernoldi (R) - Conquest Racing
96 - Mario Dominguez (R) - Pacific Coast Motorsports
02 - Justin Wilson (R) - Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
06 - Graham Rahal (R) - Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
All cars use Dallara chassis, Honda engines and Firestone tires. Issued: 6/17/08

RACE NOTES
- The Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer will be the second IndyCar Series event conducted at Iowa Speedway. Dario Franchitti won the inaugural event.
- Scott Dixon won the PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award at Iowa last year.
- Twelve drivers entered in the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer raced in last year’s IndyCar Series event at the track. Six of those drivers led laps (Vitor Meira 71, Helio Castroneves 59, Scott Dixon 10, Buddy Rice 5, Marco Andretti 4 and Danica Patrick 1).
- Four Indianapolis 500 champions are expected to participate in the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer: Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002), Buddy Rice (2004), Dan Wheldon (2005) and Scott Dixon (2008).
- Three IndyCar Series champions are scheduled to participate in the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer: Scott Dixon (2003), Tony Kanaan (2004) and Dan Wheldon (2005).

SEASON-T0-DATE
- Helio Castroneves is the only driver to finish in the top five in all seven races this season. Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan are the only other drivers to finish in the top 10 in six races.
- Helio Castroneves and Dan Wheldon are the only drivers to complete all 1,336 laps in 2008.
- Helio Castroneves and Dan Wheldon are the only drivers running at the finish of every race in 2008.

MILESTONES AND RECORDS
- Helio Castroneves will attempt to make his 105th career IndyCar Series start. It would also be his 103rd consecutive start.
- Helio Castroneves can establish an IndyCar Series record for most consecutive seasons with at least one win should he win the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer. Castroneves is tied with Scott Sharp with victories in seven consecutive seasons.
- Helio Castroneves can extend his IndyCar Series record for consecutive seasons with a pole to seven if he can win the PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award presented by Boyer Petroleum.
- Scott Dixon needs to lead 85 more laps to become the fifth driver to lead 2,000 laps in his career. The others to lead at least 2,000 laps are Sam Hornish Jr. (3,428), Helio Castroneves (2,682), Dan Wheldon (2,674) and Tony Kanaan (2,182).
- Vitor Meira has gone 83 starts without a victory in the IndyCar Series, the longest drought of any IndyCar Series driver.

2008 INDYCAR SERIES POINTS STANDINGS - AFTER RACE 7
1 Scott Dixon 284 points
2 Helio Castroneves 249
3 Dan Wheldon 217
4 Tony Kanaan 204
5 Ryan Briscoe 169
6 Danica Patrick 164
7 Hideki Mutoh 159
8 Marco Andretti 154
9 Ed Carpenter 154
10 Oriol Servia 150

2008 BOMBARDIER ROOKIE OF THE YEAR STANDINGS - AFTER RACE 7
1 Hideki Mutoh 159 points
2 Will Power 147
3 EJ Viso 133
4 Graham Rahal 127
5 Enrique Bernoldi 125
6 Justin Wilson 117
7 Mario Moraes 89
8 Mario Dominguez 57
9 Jaime Camara 46

VIDEO NEWS FEED INFORMATION FOR NEWS BROADCASTERS
The Indy Racing League will provide Video News Feeds this week featuring material from the IndyCar® Series and Firestone Indy Lights™. The video news feeds will preview and recap the Jeld-Wen 100 Firestone Indy Lights race and the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer IndyCar Series race on June 21-22 from Iowa Speedway.

The weekend feeds will include b-roll of on-track activity and sound from various drivers following PEAK Motor Oil Pole Qualifying, SWE Pole Qualifying, the Firestone Indy Lights Jeld-Wen 100 and the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer.

The AEST dates, times and coordinates are:

Sunday June 22 (PEAK Motor Oil Pole Qualifying and Jeld-Wen 100)
Time: 11.00am – 11.30am AEST
Coordinates: AMC 16 K14 (Note: AMC 16 was formerly AMC 2)
Downlink Frequency: 11980 MHz Horizontal
Position: 85 Degrees West
Audio: 6.2/6.8
Uplink phone: (641) 791-8136

Monday June 23 (Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer)
Time: 7.00am – 7.30am AEST
Coordinates: AMC 16 K22 (Note: AMC 16 was formerly AMC 2)
Downlink Frequency: 12140 MHz Horizontal
Position: 85 Degrees West
Audio: 6.2/6.8
Uplink phone: (641) 791-8136



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