Takuma Sato

Takuma Sato
Sato at Sonoma Raceway in 2014
Nationality	Japanese
Born	(1977-01-28) 28 January 1977 Tokyo, Japan
IndyCar Series career
Debut season	2010
Current team	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
Car no.	14
Former teams	KV Racing Technology Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Starts	102
Wins	1
Poles	5
Fastest laps	1
Best finish	13th in 2011
Previous series
2002–2008 2000, 2001 2000, 2001 1999–2001	Formula One Masters of Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix British Formula Three
Championship titles
2001 2001 2001	Macau Grand Prix Masters of Formula 3 British Formula Three
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	2002–2008
Teams	Jordan, BAR, Super Aguri
Entries	92 (90 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	1
Career points	44
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2002 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	2008 Spanish Grand Prix

Takuma Sato (佐藤 琢磨, Satō Takuma, born 28 January 1977) is a Japanese professional racing driver. He currently races full-time in the IndyCar Series for A. J. Foyt Enterprises.

Racing career

Formula One

Jordan (2002)

In 2002 Sato graduated to Formula One with the Honda-powered Jordan team, and was paired with Giancarlo Fisichella. His low point was a tremendous crash in Austria, caused when Nick Heidfeld lost control of his Sauber under braking and hit the side of Sato's car, punching a hole in the side of the cockpit.^[1] Throughout he showed flashes of speed but also wild driving, nevertheless the team's faith in Sato was repaid by a fine drive to fifth at his home Grand Prix in Suzuka.

BAR (2003–05)

Sato celebrates his only Formula One podium finish, at the 2004 United States Grand Prix.

With Honda's focus shifting solely to British American Racing for 2003 Sato joined the Brackley-based outfit as a test driver. For the final round in Japan Sato replaced Jacques Villeneuve and scored the second points finish of his career with sixth, despite a collision with Michael Schumacher. He was signed to race full-time in 2004. His season was blighted by numerous engine failures, suffering no less than six. In spite of this Sato's aggressive driving style paid dividends at the United States Grand Prix, after the team did not pit under safety car conditions Sato fought back with some daring overtaking moves to score his first podium finish, the first for a Japanese driver since Aguri Suzuki at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix. He finished eighth in the championship with 34 points and helped the team to second in the Constructors' championship.

Sato was retained by BAR-Honda for the 2005 season, but the 2005 car was not as close to the front of the pack as the previous year's design. Sato missed the Malaysian Grand Prix with illness, and both drivers were disqualified from the San Marino Grand Prix and the entire team banned from the two subsequent races for using cars which were underweight when all fuel was removed. The Court did not find that this was deliberate. Sato's season never recovered from that point, after a crash-strewn season which included being disqualified from the Japanese Grand Prix for an overly-ambitious move on Jarno Trulli, Sato was not re-signed for 2006, despite Honda taking full control of the team.

Super Aguri (2006–08)

Sato joined the new Super Aguri F1 team for 2006, run by former Japanese driver Aguri Suzuki. The new outfit was in effect a Honda B-team but ran the first half of the season with a modified version of a 2002 Arrows A23 chassis. Nevertheless, Sato's reputation improved thanks to his professional attitude and competitive spirit. The team introduced a new car, the SA06 at the German Grand Prix and by the end of the season Sato was outpacing the Midland cars. At the season finale in Brazil Sato finished tenth just two places short of a points finish and comfortably ahead of both Toro Rossos and the Spyker MF1s.

For 2007, Super Aguri ran a reword version of the previous year's Honda RA106 chassis. Their performance improved drastically as Sato made it through to Q3 at the Australian Grand Prix. He then scored the first point for the team at the Spanish Grand Prix. At the Canadian Grand Prix, Sato finished sixth after having a race that had seen him move from the middle of the grid to a high of fifth, passing Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen before a pit-stop error dropped him back to eleventh. He moved up five places in the last 15 laps, passing Toyota's Ralf Schumacher and then on lap 67 the McLaren-Mercedes of world champion Fernando Alonso; the latter pass was met with cheers around the track.^[2]

Sato at the 2008 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Financial problems began to affect the team in the off-season winter break and the Japanese squad only just made it to the opening round of the 2008 season in Australia. The team used a modified Honda RA107 chassis, which was launched just before the first Friday Practice session that weekend. The car was just as uncompetitive as the Honda had been in 2007 and the team withdrew from Formula One after the Spanish Grand Prix.

In late 2008, Sato took part in tests at Jerez with Scuderia Toro Rosso, to become a candidate to fill the seat vacated by Sebastian Vettel. He was competing against former Toro Rosso driver Sébastien Bourdais and Red Bull Racing test and reserve driver Sébastien Buemi for one of the two race seats.^[3] He first drove on 18 September, more than four months since Super Aguri's withdrawal, and tested for the team again for two days in November, setting the fastest time on the 17th,^[4] 3 tenths ahead of Buemi, and proceeded by setting the second-fastest time on the 18th.^[5]

Bourdais eventually won the race seat and in March 2009 it was announced that Sato would not be the reserve driver for the Red Bull team.^[6]

IndyCar Series

KV Racing Technology (2010–11)

Sato driving for KV Racing at the 2011 Indy Japan 300.

Sato visited the Indianapolis 500 in May 2009. He signed with KV Racing Technology to drive in the 2010 IndyCar Series season ^[7] finishing in 21st place, he signed for the same team for 2011.^[8]

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (2012)

At the 2012 Indianapolis 500, driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Sato chased Dario Franchitti to the finish making a move for the lead and the race win at the first turn of the last lap. While not successful, Sato was respected by Indianapolis 500 fans for "going for it" on the last lap.

A. J. Foyt Enterprises (2013–present)

For 2013, Sato joined A. J. Foyt's team, driving the No. 14 car vacated by Mike Conway. In the third race of the season at Long Beach, Sato scored his first IndyCar win, in his 52nd start in the series, making him the first Japanese driver to win an IndyCar race.^[9]

Formula Nippon/Super Formula

On 14 June 2012, Mugen Motorsports announced that Sato would race with Team Mugen in the last 2 rounds, as well as the JAF Grand Prix, at Sportsland SUGO, Suzuka Circuit and Fuji Speedway of the 2012 Formula Nippon season.^[10]

Formula E

On 20 November 2013, Sato became a test driver for the FIA Formula E Championship.^[11] On 11 September 2014, Sato joined his former Formula One team Amlin Aguri to compete in Formula E, starting with the season-opening Beijing ePrix.^[12] In the race, Sato set the fastest lap with a time of 1:45.101, but was not classified, despite finishing the race four laps down.^[13]

Personal life

Sato is married and has two children with his wife, Chiharu.^[14]

Motorsports career results

Career summary

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Complete IndyCar results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

¹ The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after Dan Wheldon died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.

Indianapolis 500

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete Formula Nippon/Super Formula results

Complete Formula E results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

See also

• List of Japanese people
• Andrew Gilbert-Scott – his manager since his Junior Formula career in Europe until 2009
• Steve Fusek  – his current manager, former VP-Business Operations at PacWest Racing Group and former VP of Sales and Marketing at CART.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Takuma Sato.

• Official website
• Takuma Sato career summary at DriverDB.com
• Takuma Sato driver statistics at Racing-Reference

Takuma Sato sporting positions and awards Macau Grand Prix (GP and F3) winners Four-time John MacDonald Two-time Jan Bussell Arsenio Laurel Geoff Lees Edoardo Mortara Riccardo Patrese Felix Rosenqvist Vern Schuppan One-time Ayari Bartlett Bertaggia Bianchi Brabham Choun Conway Coulthard Couto de Carvalho di Grassi Donnelly Dumbreck Earl Félix da Costa Firman Gommendy Gugelmin Hardwick Heath Jarvis Juncadella Kunimoto Lapierre Lynn Maassen Manning Maw Moreno Müller Nielsen Pateman Poon Prémat Quester Redfern Ritchie Rydell Sato M. Schumacher R. Schumacher Senna Steane Wallace Masters of Formula 3 winners Two-time Valtteri Bottas Felix Rosenqvist One-time Bianchi Carbone Cochet Coronel Coulthard di Resta Fontana Giovinazzi Hamilton Hülkenberg Hynes Juncadella Klien Lamy Mollekens Prémat Rees Saelens Sato J. Verstappen M. Verstappen British Formula 3 & Formula Junior champions Three-time Don Parker Jim Russell Dave Walker Roger Williamson Two-time Tony Brise Jim Clark Brian Henton Harry Stiller Trevor Taylor One-time Alguersuari Arundell Asmer Banting Barrichello Brabham Brandon Burt Byrne Cao Conway Daly Dean Dumfries Fenning de Ferran Firman Fittipaldi Gavin Giacomelli Gugelmin Haberfeld Häkkinen Harvey Hynes Johansson Kane Keegan Kerr King Ledbrook Lehto Leston Magnussen van der Merwe Moss Nasr Nilsson von Opel Pace Palmer Parente Piquet Piquet, Jr. Pitcher Pizzonia Ricciardo Sato Schenken Senna Serra South Stewart I. Taylor Trimmer Vergne Wallace Warwick Winners of Autosport's National Driver of the Year Racing Winner 1982: Tommy Byrne 1983: Martin Brundle 1984: Johnny Dumfries 1985: Andy Rouse 1986: Andy Wallace 1987: Johnny Herbert 1988: JJ Lehto 1989: Allan McNish 1990: Robb Gravett 1991: David Coulthard 1992: Tim Harvey 1993: Kelvin Burt 1994: Gabriele Tarquini 1995: John Cleland 1996: Frank Biela 1997: Alain Menu 1998: Rickard Rydell 1999: Laurent Aïello 2000: Antônio Pizzonia 2001: Takuma Sato 2002: Robbie Kerr 2003: Nelson Piquet, Jr. 2004: James Thompson 2005: Matt Neal 2006: Mike Conway 2007: Jason Plato Rally Winner 1982: Malcolm Patrick 1983: Darryl Weidner 1984: David Llewellin 1985: Mark Lovell 1986: Ken Wood 1987: Louise Aitken-Walker 1988: Malcolm Wilson 1989–90: David Llewellin 1991–92: Colin McRae 1993: Richard Burns 1994: Malcolm Wilson 1995: Alister McRae 1996: Gwyndaf Evans 1997: Mark Higgins 1998: Martin Rowe 1999: Tapio Laukkanen 2000: Mark Higgins 2001–02: Justin Dale 2003: Martin Rowe 2004: Guy Wilks 2005–07: Mark Higgins Combined Winner 2008: Oliver Turvey 2009: Colin Turkington 2010: Jason Plato 2011: Matt Neal 2012: Gordon Shedden 2013: Andrew Jordan 2014: Colin Turkington 2015: Gordon Shedden British American Racing Founder Craig Pollock Staff Adrian Reynard David Richards Nick Fry Drivers Jacques Villeneuve Jenson Button Takuma Sato Olivier Panis Ricardo Zonta Mika Salo Anthony Davidson Formula One cars 01 002 003 004 005 006 007 Super Aguri F1 Team Founder Aguri Suzuki Personnel Mark Preston Daniele Audetto Drivers Takuma Sato Anthony Davidson Yuji Ide Franck Montagny Sakon Yamamoto Formula One cars SA05 SA06 SA07 SA08 Honda Motor Company Divisions and subsidiaries Acura American Honda Honda Canada Canada Manufacturing Aircraft Performance Development India Motorcycles Racing F1 Taiwan UK Joint ventures Honda Automobile (China) Company 65% Dongfeng Honda (50%) GE Honda Aero Engines (50%) Guangqi Honda (50%) Everus Bangladesh Honda Private Limited {70% share} Aircraft MH01 MH02 HA-420 Honda Cars Accord Accord (Japan) Accord Hybrid Amaze Brio/Brio Satya City/Grace Civic Civic GX Civic Hybrid Civic Si Crider CR-Z FCX Clarity Fit/Jazz Insight Legend Life Mobilio/BR-V N-One NSX S660 Pickup trucks Acty Ridgeline Crossovers/SUVs Crosstour CR-V Vezel/HR-V Pilot/MR-V Vans Freed Jade Odyssey (International) Odyssey (North America) Stepwgn Vamos Past 1300 Airwave/Partner Ascot Avancier Ballade Beat Capa City/Jazz Civic Type R CR-X CR-X del Sol Crossroad Concerto Domani Element Elysion EV Plus FR-V Horizon Inspire Integra Life Dunk Logo Mobilio Spike N360 N600 Orthia/Partner Passport Prelude Quint Rafaga S500 S600 S800 S2000 S-MX Stream T360/T500 That's Today Torneo Tourmaster Z Zest Racing Curtiss Special R800 R1300 RA270 RA271 RA272 RA273 RA300 RA301 RA302 RC100 RA099 RA106 RA107 RA108 Aguri SA05 Aguri SA06 Aguri SA07 Aguri SA08 HSV-010 GT Acura ARX-01 Acura ARX-02 ARX-03 HPD ARX-04b Concept Argento Vivo Dualnote FC Sport FCV Concept HP-X HSC J-VX New Small Concept OSM Remix Sprocket U-3X WOW Bikes Motorcycles CB series CBF series CBR series CG125 CJ series CM/CMX series CR series CRF series CTX series CX series DN-01 Fury GL series NC700 series NR series NSR series RC series ST series VF/VFR series VT series VTX series XR/XL series XRE300 Transalp Africa Twin Deauville Bros/HawkGT NX250 Pacific Coast TL Series (Reflex) Valkyrie X4 Scooters Activa Aero Big Ruckus Dio Elite Express Helix Juno CHF50 Motocompo NH series Reflex Sparta Spree Ruckus/Zoomer Silver Wing Vision Other Ape Click/Vario CT series Cub F Cub series Gyro Integra NM4 Motra P50 PA50 PC50 ST series/Dax Wave series Z series Engines A-series B-series B20A C-series CVCC D-series E-series E07A F-series F20C G-series H-series J-series K-series L-series Circle L Diesel N-series Diesel P-engine R-series HF120 Turbofan VTEC I-DSi Honda HI3R Honda HI4R Honda HI5R Honda HI6R Honda HI7R Honda HI8R Honda HI9R Honda HI10R Honda HI11R Honda HI12RT Honda HI13RT Honda HI14TT Robots Honda E series Honda P series ASIMO People Soichiro Honda Takeo Fujisawa Tadashi Kume Nobuhiko Kawamoto Takeo Fukui Tadao Baba Other Honda Type R Honda Collection Hall Honda FC Mugen Motorsports Keihin Corporation Showa Corporation Internavi Twin Ring Motegi Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Super Aguri F1 Team Takuma Sato Geier v. American Honda Motor Company Honda Motor Company v. Oberg Category Commons

Team Aguri Executive Chairman Aguri Suzuki Team Principal Mark Preston key Personnel Keith Smout Race drivers 55. António Félix da Costa 77. Salvador Durán Reserve driver Julio Moreno Former key Personnel Gerry Hughes Former race drivers Nathanaël Berthon Takuma Sato Katherine Legge Sakon Yamamoto FIA Formula E Cars SRT 01E