Reigning Champ Sato Lurking Again in Familiar Formula for Indy Success
May 18, 2018 | By Phillip B. Wilson, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Takuma Sato didn’t mind being overlooked on a six-car Andretti Autosport team before his life changed forever with last year’s victory in the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil.
After a whirlwind, worldwide year of celebration, humble Japanese driver Sato is back at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and a greater appreciation for being in and out of that bright spotlight.
He’s introduced everywhere as the reigning “500” champion, but then again, some things haven’t changed so much. He can still be described as that driver lurking in the pack, not usually among the first contenders mentioned.
And that’s not so bad.
“It’s nice, the leave-me-alone thing,” Sato said Friday morning. “You’re quiet, but you know you have potential and the ability and you want to show that on Race Day.”
When the offseason announcement was made that Sato was returning to RLL, for whom he drove in 2012, he spoke of the desire to be more consistent like teammate Graham Rahal and prove himself as a worthy Verizon IndyCar Series championship contender. The best Sato has finished in the title race was eighth last year, in large part because of earning double points in the “500.”
After finishing 10th in last Saturday’s INDYCAR Grand Prix, Sato sits 13th in the points. Once again, he’s easy to miss when scanning the list. His best race result has been eighth at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.
“Takuma has had a lot of bad luck this year, frankly,” said team co-owner Bobby Rahal, “but the performance has been pretty strong.”
Just like last year at IMS, Sato has had one of the fastest cars in the first week of practice. His No. 30 Mi-Jack/Panasonic RLL Honda ranked third overall after the first three days of practice with a top speed of 226.108 mph.
Rahal, who will be Sato’s race strategist for the “500” on Sunday, May 27, knows better than to count this driver out.
“If you remember when he drove for us here before, we qualified OK, but come Race Day there he was,” Rahal said of the 2012 Indy 500, when Sato started 19th but ended up in a last-lap duel with eventual winner Dario Franchitti. “He damn near won the race. I don’t think anybody was thinking about him being in a position to win the race.”
Although Sato crashed out of that race after touching wheels with Franchitti in Turn 1, he earned respect for his daring overtake attempt in going for the win. Sato said that experience prepared him for defeating three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves in a yet another duel at the end of last year’s race.
“The thing about Takuma is he gives his all,” Rahal said. “He never shows up and you’re getting 90 percent. It’s 100 percent from him, and he works really hard at it and thinks a lot about it.”
That said, he’s still that “other” driver.
“He is kind of, ‘Oh, there’s Takuma. He’s right there,’” Rahal said. “He is opportunistic, and that’s what separates him from many others.”
Sato expresses his motivation to win a second Indy 500 as a “very natural feeling.” Sato, a 41-year-old former Formula One driver from Tokyo, has come a long way, particularly at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he hadn’t enjoyed a top-10 “500” finish in seven previous starts before swigging the milk.
“The ‘500,’” he said, “there’s nothing like it.”
Sato admitted before last year’s triumph that he still wasn’t comfortable driving the faster speeds of 230-plus mph at this superspeedway. Now a reigning champion, he sounds like he’s settled in.
“If you ask all the drivers today (about car handling), nobody is comfortable,” he said. “That’s the nature of the sport. Everybody is trying to be perfect and to the limit.
“But in terms of coming to the 500 now, yes, I’m extremely comfortable. I have my own gate, too, Gate 2 with a huge banner.”
IMS visitors can’t miss that blown-up image of Sato celebrating in Victory Lane hanging over the entrance to the tunnel between Turns 1 and 2.
How could that guy possibly fly under the radar again?
“Not anymore,” Rahal said, chuckling. “He’s too good.”