Photos: Honda

Sato Stars at Honda ‘Thanks’ Day 2017

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor

2017 Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato was the star of Honda ‘Thanks Day’ at Twin Ring Motegi today.

The annual event showcases Honda’s brightest racing stars who lap the circuit in both current and historic race cars to the delight of a massive crowd.

Sato was joined by the Borg-Warner trophy which made its first overseas trip to mark the occasion.

Other notable participants included MotoGP Champion Marc Marquez, as well as McLaren-Honda Formula One drivers Jenson Button and Stoffel Vandoorne. Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly, who came second in this year’s Super Formula Championship was also in attendance.

It was announced that Button will continue his relationship with Honda and race for them in the Japanese Super GT championship next year.

While Sato, Marquez and Gasly took to the track with their 2017 race winning machines, Button and Vandoorne lapped in a 1988 MP4-4 and a 1991 MP4-6 in a nod to better times as McLaren and Honda celebrated the end of their troubled partnership.

Fernando Alonso, who drove for McLaren-Honda in F1 and made a hugely popular one off appearance for Honda in the Indy 500 was notably absent.

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About

Associate Editor of Motorsports Tribune and jack of all trades, Adam is our resident Formula 1 expert. He has covered F1, IndyCar, WEC, IMSA, NASCAR, PWC and more. His work has been featured on multiple outlets including AutoWeek and Motorsport.com. A MT Co-founder, Adam has been with us since the beginning when he and Joey created Tribute Racing back in 2012. When not at the track or writing about cars, Adam can be found enjoying the Oregon back roads in his GTI.