By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter
Another IndyCar silly season domino has dropped as Takuma Sato has reportedly signed with Andretti Autosport for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season.
Motorsport.com reported today that Sato will drive the No. 26 Honda, replacing Carlos Munoz alongside Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi and Marco Andretti.
Sato’s move comes after spending four seasons with AJ Foyt Racing, where he scored a lone win at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2013 but has finished no better than 14th in the standings since then.
It will be his seventh season in IndyCar after competing in Formula One for seven seasons.
Sato’s manager Steve Fusek noted to Motorsport that the decision to move over to Andretti comes an open seat with an available Honda engine lease. Talks were also in place with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Schmidt Peterson Motorports. He also noted that Andretti’s recent additions of Jeremy Miless, former engineer of Josef Newgarden at Ed Carpenter Racing, and Eric Bretzman, former engineer of Scott Dixon at Chip Ganassi Racing, give him a good vibe for the team.
“I think Michael has done a really good job already in this offseason to address their weaknesses,” Fusek told Motorsport’s David Malsher. “Jeremy Milless [ex-Josef Newgarden race engineer, now with Rossi] is no small hire and Eric Bretzman [ex-Scott Dixon race engineer] is a great hire too. They knew they needed to change things and they went and did it, and these new people were in place pretty much at the start of the off-season.
He will also be reunited with his former KV Racing engineer Garrett Mothersead.
