By Roger Yasukawa

It has been a busy month in the Izod IndyCar Series during April, attending the Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama for their inaugural Indy Car race, then Long Beach Grand Prix which is my home town race, and then the first oval race at Kansas Speedway this past week end. Having three races in a month really keeps the team and drivers busy especially when you have a transition from Road and Street Course races, to an Oval race.

My focus this season has been reporting on, then supporting Takuma Sato. Being the first season in the IndyCar Series, Takuma, who is an F1 veteran, will have a lot to learn about racing on an oval course being a rookie. Racing on an oval requires different techniques and understanding of the car and aerodynamics, and this is where gaining experience will be huge.

Having said that, learning is not an issue for Takuma as he is a fast learner, especially considering he only started to race at 19 years old, and was already driving a Formula One car after just 6 years of racing. After talking to Takuma over the weekend at Kansas, he definitely thinks that this is a different type of ball game and respects more about the oval racing in general. Many people think running at an oval is just turning left, and being flat out all the time. Which is certainly not the case when you have to deal with traffic at 215 mph, and have turbulence that shakes your car all over the place. If the car is not balanced, it will be a handful just to get the car to the finish line.

Takuma ran really strong until end of the race at Kansas, and he was due for a top 6 finish. At the restart with 15laps to go, he collided with his countryman Hideki Mutoh, who was also trying to avoid slower traffic, which ended both of their races. It was a disappointing ending but there is no question about Takuma’s speed and skills on an oval, and with a little more time and patience, he definitely will be a threat to win races in the very near future!

Indianapolis 500 will be coming up shortly at end of this month and he will have to pass the Rookie Orientation next weekend, which we all expect him to pass flawlessly. Takuma knows that Indy 500 will be another big challenge and if he makes the field for this year’s Greatest Spectacle of Racing, it will be another addition to his already impressive resume. He said that the track is obviously a lot different from Kansas, and he will be learning a lot more about ovals throughout the Indy500 month but that he is ready for the challenge! Good Luck at the Speedway Taku!

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