IndyCar: Does Takuma Sato have what it takes to make a championship run?

By Asher Fair | Apr 9, 2019

AVONDALE, AZ - APRIL 07: Takuma Sato, driver of the #30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda IndyCar stands on the grid before the start of the Verizon IndyCar Series Phoenix Grand Prix at ISM Raceway on April 7, 2018 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

After winning the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park, does Takuma Sato have what it takes to make a serious run at winning the 2019 IndyCar championship?

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato became the third different driver to win a race in the 2019 IndyCar season by dominating the season’s third race, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, at Barber Motorsports Park.

By winning this 90-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.38-mile (3.830-kilometer) Barber Motorsports Park natural terrain road course in Birmingham, Alabama, the driver of the #30 Honda joined Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta as race winners this season.

Newgarden won the season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida while Herta became the youngest race winner in IndyCar history by winning the season’s second race at Circuit of the Americas, which was the inaugural IndyCar race at the track.

Sato’s victory also propelled him from a 13th place tie into third place in the championship standings with 91 points, as he finished in 19th and seventh in the season’s first two races, respectively. He trails only Newgarden, who leads the standings with 125 points, and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who sits in second with 98 points.

Does the 42-year-old Japanese driver have what it takes to make a championship run in his 10th season as a full-time IndyCar driver?

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Heading into the 2019 season, Sato had earned only three victories, and he had never finished higher than eighth place in the championship standings. In fact, his eighth place finish in the 2017 standings is his only career top 11 standings to this day.

Additionally, the first two victories of Sato’s career propelled him to the top of the championship standings as well, yet he faded down the stretch in the championship hunt in both of the seasons during which he earned them.

After earning the first victory of his IndyCar career in the 2013 season’s third race on the streets of Long Beach, California, Sato shot from an 11th place tie to second place in the championship standings. The following race, he finished in second and took the lead of the standings.

Down the stretch, however, he faded and ended up finishing in 17th place in the championship standings. He recorded just one top 12 finish in the season’s final 15 races, and he endured a 10-race stint during which he finished only one race.

After earning the second victory of his IndyCar career in the 2017 season’s sixth race, the Indianapolis 500, at Indianapolis 500, Sato shot from a 10th place tie to a second place tie in the championship standings. He finished in the top 10 in each of the next three races to remain in third in the standings, but he dropped to eighth by the end of the season after recording just one top 12 finish in the season’s final eight races.

But this season may be different.

Last season, Sato finished in 12th place in the championship standings, which was the second best results of his IndyCar career. He did so by tying his career-highs in top 10 finishes and top five finishes with seven and four, respectively. He recorded seven top 10 finishes and four top five finishes en route to his eighth place finish in the 2017 championship standings as well.

Additionally, in the 2018 season’s penultimate race at Portland International Raceway, Sato earned the third victory of his IndyCar career, at which point he was already well out of the championship hunt.

Despite the fact that he failed to finish the season finale at Sonoma Raceway with an engine failure, he still closed out the season with momentum. After going more than four years without winning a race, he had become just the seventh driver to win at least one race in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

Now Sato has won at least one race in three consecutive seasons, and he competed in only three races between his most recent two victories, giving him two victories in the last five races after he earned just two victories in the first 150 starts of his IndyCar career.

Perhaps most notably, he never “faded” after winning last season’s race at Portland International Speedway like he did after earning the first two victories of his career.

Plus, Sato didn’t just win the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama; he won it in by far the most dominant fashion of his IndyCar career. He led 76 laps of this race from the pole position after leading only 73 laps in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 seasons combined.

It is clear that Sato has entered the 2019 season with a lot of confidence, confidence that he really hasn’t displayed before and that he really has had no reason or opportunity to display before given the fact that his IndyCar career has been absolutely littered with DNFs and unforced crashes.

Sato has certainly appeared to be in championship contention on multiple occasions before, only to fade down the stretch, in large part due to his own mistakes. But this is by far his best chance to get the job done and make a run at his first career IndyCar title, and he has what it takes to pull it off.

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Will Takuma Sato made a legitimate run at winning the 2019 IndyCar championship? His championship pursuit is set to continue this Sunday, April 14 on the streets of Long Beach, California, the site of his first career victory, in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. This race is set to air live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET, so be sure not to miss it.