Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda Indy
IZOD IndyCar Series
RACE NOTES/QUOTES — Sunday, July 8, 2012
TAKUMA SATO FINISHED NINTH IN THE HONDA INDY
TAKUMA SATO, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a tough race. We chose to start with the primary tire and tried to hold our position but a couple of people got by with the quicker alternate tire. We settled into a pace and it was, in a way, surprising to see not much yellow at the beginning of the race. It was good to see all of the cars get through Turn 1 and 3 but then we tried a little different sequence and made our first pit stop earlier and put on the alternate tire and tried to stretch the run but unfortunately we had a little balance issue on the second set of tires and lost quite a bit of time and gradually lost positions which was a shame. We need to look into it that but it also seems we have a small problem on the brakes because I am losing them too. It was a tough race and in the end its good to finish in the top-10 but I wanted to be a little higher. Good job by everyone though.”
FAST FACTS: This was Sato’s third race in
GERRY HUGHES, Race Engineer for Sato: “Given where we started and the promise we showed in qualifying it was a disappointing result. We had a lot of tire degradation on the scrubbed option tires we ran in the second stint and we did a long stint so I think we paid the price in terms of our pace towards the end of the second stint before going on to fresh rubber for stint three. We were fortunate with the full course yellow towards the end of the race and were able to claim back some positions. But to start ninth and finish ninth, I’m disappointed with that.”
NEXT UP: The series will take next weekend off and return to action on July 22 for the Edmonton Indy in