Sato had to hold off Helio Castroneves over the closing laps Sunday to deny the veteran a record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 victory
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Takuma Sato had victory in sight once before at the Indianapolis 500. When he attempted a last-lap pass, Sato lost control of his car, crashed and Dario Franchitti went on to his third victory in “The Greatest Spectacle In Racing.”
In nearly the same position five years later, Sato leaned on lessons learned in that 2012 defeat and became the first Japanese driver to win the Indianapolis 500.
“I do feel after 2012 that I really needed to correct something I left over, ” Sato said. “In 2012, going into Turn 1 with Dario was a big risk. But you always learn something from those situations, and this time we proved we had what it takes.”
In winning for just the second time in IndyCar, Sato had to hold off Helio Castroneves over the closing laps Sunday to deny the veteran a record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 victory. The two swapped the lead, and Castroneves made one last attempt at a pass for the win that he couldn’t make stick.
“When Helio was coming with three laps to go, on a big charge into Turn 1, we went side-by-side, ” Sato said. “But this time I ended up still pointing in the right direction and still leading. It was job done, and the last two laps the car worked beautifully.”
The win was the second straight for Andretti Autosport in the Indy 500 and third in the last four years. An Andretti driver has now won the 500 five times overall dating to 2005 with the late Dan Wheldon.
Last year, it was with rookie Alexander Rossi. This time it was with Sato, who joined the team this season and had largely been overlooked at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Andretti camp expanded to six cars for the 500 to add Fernando Alonso, a two-time F1 champion who brought massive European interest to the race.
