You’d normally expect a driver to be pretty happy after finishing a major international motor race just 2.1 seconds behind the winner. But in the ultra-competitive world of the IZOD IndyCar Series, 2.1 seconds on a 1.5-mile oval means the difference between first and 15th place, even after almost 300 miles of racing – and disappointed reflection for Takuma Sato after an uncompetitive showing by the KV Racing Technology-Lotus team.
“It was a really tough one,” said Sato in conclusion of the weekend at Kentucky Speedway. And especially galling, considering his usual strong form on ovals.

Practice proved to be deceiving, with Takuma going fifth fastest in the first session and ninth in the second. “The times in practice are a little bit artificial,” he explained.　“Everyone is learning in the tow, in a big group, but the speed you can achieve by yourself is an entirely different thing.

“We were looking forward to Kentucky, but the reality was that we were having a few problems. The car was OK in traffic but on our own we were fundamentally lacking speed.”

It looked even worse after qualifying, in which Sato took 22nd place: “We were quite shocked at how slow we were. My team-mate went two runs before me and set a time that was not competitive, and then I gave it a go and I wasn’t quick either. It was very disappointing – all three of the team’s cars were lacking speed.”

There was no warm-up session, meaning the KVRT team was still estimating on set-up going into the race. “The ambient temperature was incredibly cold – like winter. We were thinking maybe we were having problems with tire warm-up, but the track had good grip and once the tires were warmed up they were OK. They had given us one extra lap for warm-up before our qualifying runs, but that didn’t really change anything for us.

“We went to the race with a changed set-up, but we didn’t know how it would react…”
Takuma did improve. Immediately he jumped into the top 20, and from then on he would often make places up in the pits and then immediately after stops and/or cautions, before sliding back again.

“At the beginning I thought my race was over! I got sideways out of Turn 2 and nearly lost it – I was on full opposite lock! It was really scary because the back end was so loose. Once the tires were warmed up it was OK, but we were lacking speed and I needed the pack towing me to keep up.

“The first half of the race there was not much drama – I made some positions but gradually lost them. When the tires were cold I usually gained positions but when the race settled I would get overtaken – I was just lacking speed. Also, my weightjacker broke halfway through the race. I had a couple of side-by-side and three-wide moves that were so exciting, but I wish it had been in the top group!”

Takuma battled late on with Danica Patrick, Dan Weldon, Buddy Rice and others, but was helped by excellent work in the pits. “The crew did a good job in the pitstops and I was able to make positions up. After one restart it was really thrilling that I overtook several cars on cold tires and I got as high as seventh, but then I fell back again.”

“Under the circumstances the race was not bad for us – in some ways there was satisfaction but it’s just a shame in the circumstances that the car was not competitive.”

The IndyCar Series now heads for the 2011 season finale at the Las Vegas oval, another 1.5-mile track. “I haven’t seen it or tested there. Hopefully we will be back up to speed otherwise it will be sad to end the season on a low note. Today the team had all three cars uncompetitive and Las Vegas is a similar package and the same tires, but hopefully our analysis will be good and we can get some speed back.”

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