INDYCAR MEDIA DAY

February 18, 2014

Takuma Sato

THE MODERATOR:  Takuma Sato entering his second season with A.J. Foyt Racing.  Tested yesterday at Sebring. 
Takuma, you won the race at Long Beach last year.  Leading points going into Indianapolis.  I'll ask the first question:  What do you need to do better this year? 
TAKUMA SATO:  We had a little up and down.  There was some unfortunate things.  Like you said, first half the season was really competitive, going everything well up until May.  Then after we had some unfortunate. 
I think this year obviously trying to be competitive on as many circuit as possible and try to keep up all the points.  That's our target. 
We know we can win the race.  Obviously it's going to be competitive.  As an organization, we can win the race. 
We learned a lot.  It's continually working.  From first year to second year, it's always better.  I'm definitely looking forward to coming to the second season for A.J. Foyt Racing. 
It has been very successful winter.  We tried many different things that we couldn't do during season in terms of test items.  Not always is come out as what we wanted, but it's all about learning. 
Yeah, we gain good experience over the winter. 
THE MODERATOR:  Questions for Takuma. 

Q.  What responsibility would you take for the second half of the season?  Where were there issues on your end, not the team? 
TAKUMA SATO:  My end?  I mean, it's racing.  Sometimes it's difficult to bring it together. 
I don't know, I mean, we had a very competitive run coming back to Houston, for example.  Houston, leading, then get a puncture, all those sort of things. 
A couple races, like Pocono stuff, should have been better outcome.  Physically it was so difficult to understand from what the camera see.  We will get it better. 
Anything else?  I can't really think about it right now.  This is just mixture, mixture of the season. 

Q.  If you could talk about what you think Indianapolis is going to look like in May with two events.  How do you get your hands around doing both at the same time?
TAKUMA SATO:  I think it's a good thing.  Logistically it's not really a problem as maybe some of the people thinks, because road course and oval is coming all together. 
At the Indy 500, IndyCar is prepared.  It's a different program from road car chassis.  I think the team, from March onwards, in some cases even earlier, trying to start preparation for the 500 racecar. 
Of course, in addition, we see from beginning of the season we have series of good street course and road course coming.  That car is actually going to the Indy road course Grand Prix.  That's going to work out really well.
For the fans, too, the beginning of May, instead of just have practice start going, I think it's a really good kick to have to show the fans for the racing itself.  Myself, I have good memory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway from F1. 
I'm personally, as well, looking forward to come back to the Grand Prix course and then, of course, the 500 race, too. 

Q.  Tell us about your thoughts about the configuration of that St. Petersburg street course.  What makes it challenging and fun to drive? 
TAKUMA SATO:  The previous year to last year, so 2012 to '13, was the Firestone new tires made it dramatically balance, for example.  A lot of people come with a clean sheet of white paper and have to read the setup. 
There's only few testing going on the winter, but we had to make the most of it for the Firestone street course tire very quickly.  That's very successful to transfer to St. Petersburg. 
Initially, for example, without balance at the practice one, but we knew exactly what we need to do for practice two, three, got on very well.  Qualifying was quite exciting, getting front row.  Start of the season was fantastic. 
I like St. Pete.  Combination of high-speed section, then going into turn one.  The back of the track is very, very complex.  Very narrow.  So it's a good combination.  Obviously St. Petersburg, I think it's a great place to start the season.  I always enjoyed it. 
Then, yeah, I think a lot of teams started catching up as the season went along.  We weren't maybe as fast as we could have been.  That was a tough part of our first year.  This year we continue working, should be better. 

Q.  You tested yesterday at Sebring, late last week in Sonoma.  Your second year working with the engineer Don Halliday.  The importance of developing the rapport with the engineer and the second season going forward. 
TAKUMA SATO:  Yeah, obviously having had a good, strong engineering team in the team is essential.  But also the communication between driver and engineer is also very, very important. 
Like coaching an athlete in all other athletic world, too, it has to have a full confidence and trust, the level, the language.  Even if we in English, sometimes thinking in different ways.  From that point of view, I think the time, experience, trust, get on well or not, that makes a really big difference. 
From that point of view, Don and I got on very well from the first test last year and then build up whole things. 
The whole team is really working well.  We have a very, very good communication inside the team. 
Over the course of the winter test program was twice as many testing going as last year.  Same as everyone else, of course.  But I think for us it's a very beneficial as a one-car team.  Very, very strong winter. 

Q.  Going back to Long Beach from last year, what was the impact on you and your team for the win, how it carried you through the season?
TAKUMA SATO:  It was big.  It was big.  Not just my first major win in a major series, but also for the long time waiting for ABC, too.  It was a really perfect race for us.  It's been a great sport, as well.  Long Beach is one of the biggest events as a street course event, has the long history. 
The impact was just enormous, from the sponsors, fans, the people who cheering us.  It's just good things, just big things. 
I immediately flew back to Japan after that and had a winning press conference at Tokyo.  It was a big moment.  No, it definitely is one of the best day of my racing career. 

Q.  You've had the opportunity to test with the new Honda twin turbo engine.  Any initial thoughts about a comparison between that and the single? 
TAKUMA SATO:  Yeah, we are excited with new configuration.  With the turbo, there is a good partner and how it's going to be like this.  Obviously from regulations point of view, we have to have twin turbo for 2014.  So Honda is the one that obviously has to adapt the new configuration. 
I think they work well over the winter. 
The initial thought on the twin turbo, it's very simple.  It's just the pickup.  Very, very quick.  In turbine, instead of having a big single turbine, you have huge inertia to spin the turbine itself.  Mechanically you pick up the good response. 
So from transition from the front to the back of the car, it's very naturally the torque coming through nicely.  We all liked it.  They're working on peak power for the engine.  It seems to be we made a good step.  Look forward to compete at St. Pete. 
Yeah, so far I think everything is going as planned, so it's good. 
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you, Takuma. 
TAKUMA SATO:  Thank you.