Taku`s Chicagoland Speedway Report

With the IndyCar Series moving back onto the ovals for the last four rounds of the 2010 season, Takuma Sato was looking forward to replicating his early-summer form - which included a top-three run at Iowa Speedway back in June - when the teams arrived at Chicagoland Speedway in Illinois.

Sato and his Lotus-backed, #5 KV Racing Technology Dallara-Honda did indeed repeat that performance in the Saturday-evening event. But unfortunately, another thing that was repeated was a frustrating exit from the race, preventing a strong result. And this time it was even more frustrating, as a blameless Sato was powerless to do anything to prevent a collision with his own team-mate in the pit-lane before half-distance had even been reached.

Only one hour of practice was laid on before qualifying at the Chicagoland track, which is in the town of Joliet, around 90 minutes' drive from Chicago. "It was nice to be back on the ovals after two months away," pointed out Takuma. "Your body can easily forget how you feel when you go to an oval. It's a pleasant surprise when you go out the first time – you don't realise how much g-force you push down and how much speed you can carry. It's physically thrilling.

"It's a very smooth 1.5-mile oval, and the radius means the banking is very big, allowing you to go fast very easily. It took only a few laps to go flat. We worked on race set-up as usual, and then tried a qualifying simulation at the end. I was only 19th quickest, but most importantly was happier with the balance – I had a good set-up."

With Taku drawn to run late in the qualifying line-up, this proved beneficial as he was able to learn lessons from the earlier runs. The result was 10th on the grid, a hugely encouraging performance.

"Chicagoland is one of those ovals where you usually require the minimum-distance line, so you just drive as low as possible, close to the white line to make the shortest distance. My starting position was quite late and I saw some of the quick drivers were going slightly higher than the white line, which normally wouldn't make any sense. But going quickly is a balance between distance and scrubbing off speed – the shortest line means more steering lock, whereas if you have a freer car you can go quicker. My team-mate Mario Moraes went for the shortest line, and it seemed to be a little bit of a struggle. As I had a similar set-up I did a different thing, and it worked. I just tried to minimise the steering angle and I was very happy with my position. We're only talking about a few ten-thousandths of a second, but that makes a big difference to your position on the ovals! It's all about the details."

There was then a half-hour practice session to enable teams to work on a set-up for running in the pack at Chicagoland, which is renowned for its incredibly close racing and tight finishes. "I wasn't necessarily quickest, but I was able to go low and high on the banking and I felt comfortable," said Sato.

And then to the race... All was looking fine, with Taku running on the edge of the top 12, sitting right behind reigning champion Scott Dixon for some of the time. "The start was packed! Two-wide was normal, and occasionally three-wide was unbelievable! I really enjoyed it. The start was good. I lost a couple of positions but overtook a couple and it was looking good. The understeer was a little bit strong from early on, even though I tried everything with the anti-roll bar and weightjacker, but it was all under control. I knew what I wanted and this was making the foundations."

But bizarrely, for the second race weekend in a row, Sato had a puncture... "We had some yellows and after the restart I felt something was wrong. The understeer got worse and worse, and because that was putting a hard time on the right-hand tyres it was getting even worse. The team radioed that I had a slow puncture, and they already knew something was wrong under the yellow.

"I had to come in early to replace the tyre, stopping under green conditions, and I lost a lap. Back on track I was alone, at a circuit where you really need to be in the pack, but I was happy with the balance and my pace was pretty good. When all the leaders stopped I unlapped myself, and it was a good surprise to be back up to 13th place. I was making positions up when I saw Dan Wheldon coming up behind. Because my pit-stop window was now different I needed to save fuel, so I let him go and just followed him as close as I could, to make one block of car. I was saving fuel and we were catching the front pack."

While Wheldon would go on to miss out on victory by just a tiny fraction of a second in a thrilling finish, Taku would not get much further: "When another yellow came, it was good timing for us because now everybody would stop and I was back in the game, and I was confident I could match the speed of the leaders.

"My pit-stop was fantastic, the guys worked really well, but as I was steering out of the pit box there were cars coming in the high-speed lane, so my guys radioed that I couldn't yet join the high-speed lane. Fine, but then I got a sudden hit, and I had no idea what was happening."

Unfortunately, team-mate EJ Viso was released into the side of Taku's car and the collision put them both out of the race. "I'm so disappointed," said Sato. "Everything seemed to be under control – I was even back in the game after a problem, and I was sure I would be able to challenge to the top field just like a Iowa."

Still, there's a very quick turnaround before the teams head south for next weekend's race at Kentucky Speedway, another 1.5-mile oval that should suit Taku's speed on these ovals. "I've heard it's bumpier, but I'm looking forward to it and I am focusing fully on this. It's extremely important for me to have a good race there, as it's just one race before my home event at Motegi."