By Lewis Franck, special to Kickin’ The Tires
Madison, Illinois – No one in IndyCar masters redemption better than Takuma Sato.
After a trying week, where many people blamed the Japanese driver for precipitating a multi-car crash on the first lap at Pocono Raceway, he held off Ed Carpenter for his second win of this season driving a Honda-powered Dallara for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
“I just wanted to bring the car home,” he said. “The domination of the weekend is a great credit for the team. This win is just so emotional. It gave me an unbelievable boost after some of the difficulty. We can have a little confidence.”
Only that’s not the first time Sato got a second chance to repair his reputation. In 2012 he was battling Dario Franchitti for the win at Indianapolis, but got over-aggressive, spinning out and handing the victory to the Scotsman. Yet in 2017 he claimed that elusive Indy 500 victory. He put things right, on Saturday night, at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Speaking of redemption, Carpenter and third place, Tony Kanaan, each had one of their best finishes of the year.
Fourth place (for the third time this year) went to Santino Ferrucci, in the Dale Coyne Racing machine. He led a race-high 97-laps.
Ferrucci’s youthful enthusiasm and bold attempt to get his first podium were questioned by current series points leader, Josef Newgarden. In the closing laps, the Connecticut native went high in the corner in a last-ditch effort for a first podium and lost momentum only to drive back down to the racing line forcing Newgarden to spin to avoid him and lose valuable points and finish seventh.
“What Ferrucci did,” Newgarden told NBCSN, “was in my opinion dangerous.
“He came directly back, on the racing line, to defend his position. I let him go two- times. This is big-time auto racing, and if you do that on an oval, you’ll cause a serious wreck.”
The rookie, Ferrucci, told IndyCar Radio, “I nearly lost the car and got up in the marbles.” Adding, “obviously we were fighting for two different championships. I could have given him more room, but I wanted the hardware.”
Newgarden now has a 38-point lead over his Penske Racing teammate, Simon Pagenaud. And Ferrucci has a two-point lead over Ganassi Racing driver, Felix Rosenqvist, who finished 11th.
The IndyCar series has two races remaining. Next up takes place in Portland, OR with the double-points-paying finale at Laguna Seca Raceway in California.
NTT IndyCar Series – Bommarito Automotive Group 500
Results Saturday of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 NTT IndyCar Series event on the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (5) Takuma Sato, Honda, 248, Running
2. (17) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 248, Running
3. (20) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 248, Running
4. (6) Santino Ferrucci, Honda, 248, Running
5. (4) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 248, Running
6. (18) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 248, Running
7. (1) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 248, Running
8. (9) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 248, Running
9. (12) Colton Herta, Honda, 248, Running
10. (22) Marco Andretti, Honda, 248, Running
11. (10) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 248, Running
12. (7) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 247, Running
13. (11) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 247, Running
14. (15) Zach Veach, Honda, 247, Running
15. (19) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 247, Running
16. (14) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 247, Running
17. (21) Matheus Leist, Chevrolet, 246, Running
18. (16) Graham Rahal, Honda, 226, Mechanical
19. (2) Sebastien Bourdais, Honda, 189, Contact
20. (8) Scott Dixon, Honda, 136, Mechanical
21. (13) Spencer Pigot, Chevrolet, 131, Contact
22. (3) Will Power, Chevrolet, 52, Contact
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 136.874 mph
Time of Race: 2:15:53.4687
Margin of victory: 0.0399 of a second
Cautions: 5 for 49 laps
Lead changes: 13 among 11 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Josef Newgarden, 1 – 50
Will Power, 51
Santino Ferrucci, 52
James Hinchcliffe, 53
Colton Herta, 54 – 63
James Hinchcliffe, 64 – 82
Santino Ferrucci, 83 – 114
Sebastien Bourdais, 115
Felix Rosenqvist, 116
Marcus Ericsson, 117 – 118
Conor Daly, 119
Marco Andretti, 120 – 123
Santino Ferrucci, 124 – 187
Takuma Sato, 188 – 248
NTT IndyCar Series point standings:
Newgarden 563, Pagenaud 525, Rossi 517, Dixon 493, Power 416, Sato 382, Hunter-Reay 368, Rahal 346, (Rookie) Ferrucci 326, (Rookie) Rosenqvist 324.