Takuma Sato wins the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500. Sato became the first Japanese driver to win the Indy 500-mile race. Starting from P4, Sato’s driving much like the man himself, largely a background character for the first 50 laps as the story was the surge to the front by Fernando Alonso.
After the first restart caused by Jay Howard and Scott Dixon’s airborne accident—that included a red flag to fix the track—Sato led for the first time. Pacing the field for 10 laps, during an all-Andretti Autosport 1-2-3-4 with team-mates Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Alonso.
After the second round of pit stops, the Japanese driver found himself cycled back in P16 after a botched stop. The race seemed lost for Sato, as his Andretti team-mates would trade leads, 17 times in total; but the 40-year-old started to pick off places. The Tokyo-native would not see the top-five until after Alonso’s Honda engine blew with 20 laps to go. He would not lead until five laps to go, taking Helio Castroneves on the outside through T2.
After seeing the checkered flag, Sato was overwhelmed with emotion, the only sound from his radio was a joyous scream. In victory lane, called the feeling of winning, ‘beautiful’.
“Unbelievable! It’s the best feeling. It’s beautiful. I can’t thank enough this team. Hopefully the crowd enjoyed it!”
Indianapolis 500 Race Notes:
– Sato set the fastest overall lap on lap 150. a 0m39.7896s effort with a top speed of 226.190 mph.
– Of the 15 drivers that led the Indy 500, Andretti drivers led it the most, 19 different times.
– Overall lap leader, Max Chilton, was +1 lap at one point. He lead 50 total laps.
– Sato’s win comes five years after his 2012 Indy 500 battle with eventual winner Dario Franchitti. Franchitti congratulated Sato in victory lane.
– The margin of victory after 200 laps of racing: 0.2011s.
– There were 50 caution laps.
– The average speed was 155.395 mph, one of the slowest in recent memory.
