The 43-year-old became the first Japanese winner of the Indy 500 in 2017.
Takuma Sato scored his second Indianapolis 500 victory on Sunday as the Japanese racer held off Scott Dixon and ultimately won under caution at an Indianapolis Motor Speedway left empty because of the. IndyCar officials declined to throw a red flag after a violent crash by Spencer Pigot with just a handful of laps remaining. Pigot needed medical attention on the track, the crash scene was a debris field and there was no way the race could resume without a stoppage. Dixon, the five-time IndyCar champion who had dominated the race, asked on his radio if IndyCar was going to give the drivers a final shootout to the checkered flag, NASCAR style. Are they going red?“ Dixon asked. „They’ve got to go red. There’s no way they can clean that up.“ IndyCar never threw the flag and Sato led Dixon across the finish line under yellow.
