Takuma Sato said his dominant victory at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama was “probably the cleanest race I ever won” and that he “never relaxed” over the course of the 90 lap race.
Although 42 year old Sato was never seriously challenged for the win at Barber Motorsports Park, the last stint saw series champion Scott Dixon maintain a gap of less than two seconds behind the race leader for lap after lap.
With five laps to go, the pressure told as Sato took a trip across the grass at turn eight, getting airborne briefly and losing a minor piece of bodywork along the way. The Japanese driver said this just proved how hard he was having to push.
“I was charging hard, and we had about 1.5 to 1.7 (seconds) that sort of a gap that I was controlling a bit, but it's never relaxed. Outside probably looked easy to win from the cruising and the pole position, but it wasn't really cruising.
“I was really pushing hard using Push-to-Pass on every exit on the last 10 laps. So, it was tough, and I had a little moment into the Turn 8.”
Sato had spun during Friday practice at the same corner, taking out a plastic marker post, and said a split second memory of that incident led him to straight-line the corner.
“I decided this time I'll go straight because I knew I had to come back (on track). It looked like it, but it wasn't that much in that moment I decided to go straight. Anyway, it was not necessary to give the little bit sort of heart attack to the body.”
Sato also praised his team-mate, after revealing in the winners circle that he’d taken Graham Rahal’s race setup for his car after the morning warm-up session.
“A big thank you to Graham; we were working so closely together,” Sato said. “I mean today, either of us was going to be competitive.
"It's probably the cleanest race I ever won… I think we come here with the hopes, always do, but honestly never really, really expected to be this much of a domination."
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