An encouraging start to the Verizon IndyCar Series of 2014 gave Takuma Sato an ultimately disappointing result of seventh position at St Petersburg. But the fact that seventh was a disappointment was a good reflection of how competitively the Japanese ace and the AJ Foyt Racing team began the campaign.

Sato looked unstoppable through practice and qualifying. And, while everyone in the city prepared for an imminent tornado – which eventually only skirted the city – Taku and the #14 ABC Supply Dallara-Honda looked something like another force of nature.

Third, first and third in the three practice sessions, Sato then topped every phase of qualifying to take the fourth pole position of his career – and the second in succession (including Houston 2013) on street circuits.

It was all down to being ready for the new season. “Our preparation is a lot better than last year,” he explained. “My first year with AJ Foyt Racing only started at the end of February 2013, so preparation was very minimal, although it was efficient and we made a good step. But this year we started in December, so we were effectively two months ahead. We had the same car, the same people in the team as last season, so we knew what we were doing and made enormous progress compared to 2013. We reviewed a lot of stuff and addressed some issues with a lot of back-to-back tests, finding out where we were strong and where we were weak. We were ready to go and looking forward to St Petersburg!

“We knew we had a good, strong pace from last year, but of course the Firestone tyre compound was different and there were other different things: the Honda engine is now twin turbo, so we have better peak power and torque, and that affects weight distribution.

“We applied the best package we could and it worked really well. We were in the top three in every practice session and because it was so tight and it was important to be always competitive. It was a very good start.”

Then came the rain, which delayed qualifying for some hours until it was finally run late on Saturday. “We had a local evacuation warning so we couldn’t go through our normal programme and had to wait three and a half hours or something for qualifying. I was worried… not because of the rain – I have no problem in the wet! – but that they would cancel qualifying! If they had, the grid would be based on last year’s points – not ideal… I really appreciate that IndyCar and the promoter made qualifying happen on Saturday evening.

“It was a pretty wet first segment of qualifying – it was a very close battle already but I got through comfortably. The rain tyres were starting to give up because the conditions were getting a little drier, and into the second segment it looked best to go for the wets to get a lap time in case of later red flags, and then move onto slicks to improve. But at the same time you could only do six or seven laps in total, so I decided to go for slicks from the beginning to build up temperature. It was obviously a risk but it was a very successful decision and I got into the Firestone Fast Six shootout. Challenging but very satisfying.

“It was now dry for the final segment, but with a couple of wet patches to avoid. Within the 10-minute changeover time we changed a lot of settings, and it was a very satisfying lap. It was great that I was able to commit 100 per cent and nail pole position on the final lap! Actually, I think it’s the first time I’ve ever had pole for my first race of the season.”

The Sunday warm-up provided some skewed times, with those who hadn’t graduated from the first segment of qualifying using the opportunity to get some idea of the softer red tyres, which they hadn’t yet used. “Of the people around me on the grid I was fastest,” said Taku, “although I was not completely happy with the car. We had to change a couple of things, but I believed we could have a very strong race.”

That showed at the start. Sato stormed away as front-row partner and former team-mate Tony Kanaan lagged back, so the AJ Foyt machine was 0.86 seconds clear of Ryan Hunter-Reay by the end of the first lap. The gap grew and grew, and by the first of three rounds of pit-stops came around Taku was over five seconds in front.

“The start went smoothly, I got the lead comfortably and I was able to stretch away,” he said. “I maintained the gap and I was able to save the tyres and fuel. All went well until around lap 20 or 21, when I started to feel I was struggling with some tyre degradation. Normally that isn’t too bad, but in this case it was very unusual to have a first race of the season that was almost yellow flag-less! I just had to stretch everything until the first pit-stop as far as possible.

“We went to lap 27. I was starting to lose significant lap time due to the tyre degradation, and maybe now you can say we should have stopped a few laps earlier like Will Power [who won the race] did, but we thought it was the better thing to do.”

Sato changed onto the harder black tyres for his second and third stints, and rejoined from his first pit-stop just in front of Power. “Unfortunately the tyre pressures weren’t right,” he said. “The balance was really difficult at first. Will was right behind me with fully warmed-up tyres.”

At the start of the 31st lap, Power swept around the outside of Taku at the Turn 1 right-hander and, although Taku briefly snuck back ahead into Turn 2, he was on the outside with little room to manoeuvre, so had to slot in behind the Australian. “It was fun – I tried hard but there was not enough grip. So I backed off and tried to sit behind him to go faster when the tyres warmed up, but the opportunity never came. I lost speed on the black tyres over two stints, which was a surprise because we were so quick on those tyres in practice.”

Sato got briefly back into the lead when Power made his second stop, but when his own turn to pit came there was a small issue with the tyre change and he emerged fifth behind Power, Helio Castroneves, Hunter-Reay and Mike Conway. That’s how it stayed until the first caution, just 34 laps from the finish and the point at which most made their final stops. Taku dropped to sixth, and due to a chaotic restart – which caused another yellow due to a crash between Marco Andretti and Jack Hawksworth – he lost another place, to Simon Pagenaud.

Now seventh, Sato spent the final stages of the race looking to attack Kanaan, but in turn having to defend from Justin Wilson: “My final stint was on red tyres, and everyone was faster than before, but I couldn’t match the times I’d done on a green track at the beginning of the race. I was just hanging on.

“From pole to seventh is disappointing, but the bigger picture is that we have some good points, so we can take the positives and hopefully transfer that to the next race.”
And the next race is Long Beach, scene last year of the breakthrough win for Taku and the Foyt team. “We’re all looking forward to it!” he said. “We should have a good base set-up so let’s hope we can be competitive again, make sure there are no problems like at St Pete and race strongly.”

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. March 30, 2014—A disappointing finish. Such is the mindset of the ABC Supply/AJ Foyt Racing team that a top-10 finish in the Verizon IndyCar Series no longer ranks as a good day. Takuma Sato, who won the Verizon P1 award with the No. 14 ABC Supply Honda, finished seventh in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

“In the end it was a very tough day today,” Sato said. “The start off the line was good and I got into a nice rhythm the first stint but it looks like we didn’t have enough speed on the second and third set of tires—we struggled a bit to get the balance right. We had a little issue with the pit stop as well, lost a couple places. I tried hard but it was difficult to gain positions on the track today. Overall, I think after such a great qualifying, it’s a disappointing finish. At least the team fought really hard and it was a good job for the weekend and we brought home some points.”

Will Power won the race while Ryan Hunter Reay finished second. Third through fifth were Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon and Simon Pagenaud.

Sato and the entire ABC Supply team had been fast the first two days on the 1.8-mile street course, and topped qualifying to win the pole—Sato’s fourth and the team’s 44th. They were fast at the start of the 110-lap race as Sato leapt ahead of row-mate Tony Kanaan to easily take the lead into Turn-1 and extend it to nearly six seconds by the time of his first pit stop.

Sato’s pit stop was flawless, but switching from the Firestone alternate (red-rimmed) tires to the harder compound primary black tires, changed the handling on the car enough that Will Power was able to take the lead.

Team Director Larry Foyt told Sato that the air pressures didn’t come up as quickly as they expected but that they will adjust for the next set of tires. Sato lost track position to Power but maintained his second place standing. Another flawless stop on lap 58 saw Sato come out in fifth as different fuel strategies emerged.

A full course yellow on lap 74 (for Charlie Kimball’s excursion into a tire barrier), set up for a flurry of pit stops once the pits were opened. A combination of pit location (stall 16) and a two-second miscue on the stop, saw Sato lose a couple spots to the Target Ganassi team which was pitted in stalls 1 and 9.

However, he was on the softer red tires and there was a possibility of overtaking the Target Ganassi cars which were on the harder black tires. On the restart, leader Will Power’s gamesmanship with teammate Helio Castroneves, who was running second, created an accordion effect and Sato did a good job of avoiding contact as cars scrambled. In the melee, rookie Jack Hawksworth spun and collected Marco Andretti.

The next restart went off without a hitch, setting up a 24-lap dash to the finish. Of the top eight runners, only Ryan Hunter-Reay was able to gain a position, when he overtook Castroneves for second. Sato couldn’t overtake sixth place Kanaan but was able to keep eighth place Justin Wilson at bay.

Sato’s seventh place finish is the team’s best finish at this event. In two weeks the Verizon IndyCar Series returns to Long Beach, Calif. where Sato claimed his first IndyCar victory a year ago. The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will be televised live by NBC Sports Network on Sunday, April 13 starting at 4p.m. ET

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. March 29, 2014—“Nobody can beat that lap!”

That was Takuma Sato’s confident response to Team Director Larry Foyt who called Sato to the pits, telling him he had just taken P1 but there were 30 seconds left in the final round of qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The Japanese driver, whose philosophy “No Attack, No Chance” has endeared him to many, was clearly in control as the Verizon IndyCar Series kicked off its 2014 season.

Indeed, Sato, who was quickest on Friday in the No. 14 ABC Supply Honda, was quickest again in all three rounds of qualifying this evening. He laid down a “mega lap” to top the Firestone Fast Six and win the Verizon P1 Pole Award with a time of 1 minute, 1.8666 seconds, nearly a third of a second quicker than outside pole sitter Tony Kanaan, who was making his first start with the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team. It was Sato’s second straight Fast Six showing in the season opener--last year he qualified second.

Trailing Sato and Kanaan were Ryan Hunter-Reay, Will Power, Scott Dixon and Marco Andretti. It is Sato’s fourth pole since he joined the series in 2010, and the second with Foyt’s ABC Supply team. It is the Foyt team’s 44th pole since the team’s formation in December 1965. It is the 11th pole for the team since Foyt retired from driving in 1993.

“We can’t ask for a better start to the season,” said Sato, who credited his ABC Supply team on their decisions which allowed him to adapt to the quickly changing track conditions due to thunderstorms which passed through mid-afternoon. “I’m very pleased that the league and promoters made it possible for the qualifying session [to be held] this evening because otherwise I would have to start middle of the pack,” said Sato. Had qualifying been cancelled and not delayed over three hours, Sato would have had to start 16th based on 2013 entrant points.

Larry Foyt was also happy that qualifying took place around the 1.8-mile street circuit, saying, “I’m extremely proud of this team...from the mechanics to the engineers, everyone worked hard over the winter and stayed focused. They all keep trying to improve and it shows with the way we are beginning this season. We have to send a big thank you to Honda. They put in a huge amount of effort to develop this twin turbo engine, and to win this first pole of 2014 means a great deal.”

The thunderstorms followed by drying winds created a huge unknown for the teams whose practice sessions all took place on a dry track. Teams started the first round of qualifying on rain tires and by round two, Sato was one of three to switch to the slicks, a bold move that saw the other nine drivers follow suit after two laps.

Assessing the quickly changing track, Sato said, “It was very tricky conditions out there. From Q-1 to Q-2 to Q-3, we made significant changes on the springs and the engineers made the right decisions.”

“It was pretty nerve-wracking,” said the elder Foyt. “We unloaded fast but it looked like qualifying might be washed out. I’m glad it cleared up so we could qualify and prove we did have the fastest car. I’m really happy for Takuma and the team because they worked hard over the winter, did a lot of testing and it looks like it paid off.”

When asked about his team owner, A.J. Foyt, Sato replied, “A.J. was happy and to make him happy is very difficult to do, so I’m glad we could do that.”

Over 650 guests of sponsor ABC Supply will be in the stands tomorrow to watch the race, which will be televised live on ABC-TV starting at 3pm ET.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. March 28, 2014—Takuma Sato set the pace in the No. 14 ABC Supply Honda for the Verizon Indy Car Series field in the opening day of practice for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

“It was a good day for the ABC Supply team,” Sato said afterwards. “The track conditions were a bit tricky today—gusty winds in the morning and spritzes of rain and cooler temps in the afternoon so maybe it isn’t representative of typical conditions here but the car worked well. We had a strong race here last year so we knew our basic set-up was good but we tried a few items we learned from our winter testing and we were able to improve. Don [Halliday, chief engineer] and the boys did a good job.”

With a time of 1 minute, 2.5615 seconds, Sato posted the quickest lap in the second of two practice sessions around the 1.8-mile course through the streets of St. Petersburg. Second through fifth were Graham Rahal (1:02.6122), Will Power (1:02.6443), Helio Castroneves (1:02.8178), and Simon Pagenaud (1:02.9129), all of whom improved their times from the morning session. In the first practice, Sato was third quickest behind James Hinchcliffe and Justin Wilson.

The teams will have one more practice session before the qualifying session in the afternoon. If the qualifying session cannot be completed or is cancelled altogether due to inclement weather, the 22-car grid will be set according to last year’s final standings for entrants, in which case Sato would be forced to start 17th.

The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be televised live by ABC-TV Sunday starting at 3:00pm ET.