IndyCar – Takuma Sato reaches a milestone in Long Beach

Takuma Sato wins his first victory in the Long Beach Grand Prix IndyCar and offers A.J Foyt Racing its first success since the Kansas Speedway event in 2002 where Airton Dare won. The former Super Aguri driver F1 also becomes the first Japanese to win a race in the discipline. The driver of the No. 12 DW14-Honda, who started from fourth place for his 52nd IndyCar start, beat Graham Rahal (RLL Racing) to the finish line. Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne Racing) completes the top three after making a superb comeback from 24th position. Dario Franchitti (Ganassi Racing) had to settle for fourth place after starting from pole.

JR Hildebrand (Panther Racing) completes the top five ahead of Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport). Helio Castoneves (Team Penske) only finished ninth but still increased his lead in the Championship by two points over his direct rival Scott Dixon (Ganassi Racing) who completed the top ten of the race. simon pagenaud (Schmidt Motorsports) is best placed among the French, taking seventh place ahead of Simona de Silvestro (KV Racing Technology). Tristan Vautier was less fortunate. After starting from the back of the grid following a change to his Honda engine, the rookie had to perform a drive-through at the end of the race for a pit stop deemed dangerous by the stewards. The French driver only finished 16th behind his compatriot Sébastien Bourdais (Dragon Racing) and Will Power (Team Penske). A.J Allmendinger (Team Penske) was unlucky as he retired with a mechanical problem.

Discover the report from the Long Beach Grand Prix in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.