This weekend at the Twin Ring Motegi track in Japan, the Honda FCX Clarity will be showing its pace by taking on the duties of a pace car. The Indy Racing League is making its annual trek to the homeland of engine supplier Honda for the Indy Japan 300 race at the facility near Tochigi. The fuel cell-powered Clarity will take the place of the usual fleet of Honda Accords as it leads the IndyCars to the green flag and keeps the racers in line while the yellow flag is out. This will be the first race paced by a hydrogen-fueled car; the field of 18 cars that crossed the Pacific are all running on E100 ethanol.

The FCX Clarity will be first series production fuel cell car when it becomes available for lease in Southern California this summer. Honda will be making about 100 Clarities a year available with more to come as hydrogen availability increases (if it does). The Clarity has a range of 270 miles from the 4kg of compressed hydrogen it carries. According to Honda spokesman Todd Mittleman, the company had received about 20,000 inquiries about leasing the Clarity since its debut at last November's LA Auto Show.

[Source: Honda]