Takuma Sato Tag

By INDYCAR INDIANAPOLIS – Colton Herta won one of the wildest races in recent NTT INDYCAR SERIES history, controlling the chaos of changing weather conditions, ever-evolving tire strategies and numerous incidents to take the checkered flag for the GMR Grand Prix on Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Herta, from Valencia, California, earned his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory of the season and his seventh career win in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda after starting 14th. The win was the first of the season for a Honda-powered driver. SEE: RaceRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Callum Ilott has shown steady progression through the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, climbing all the way to the top of the scoring pylon in Saturday’s final practice session for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. With a lap of one minute, 7.0906 seconds, the driver of the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet beat out defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou to close out the day as the fastest driver. The Englishman started the weekend with an eighth place runRead More
By INDYCAR INDIANAPOLIS – The good times keep rolling for Josef Newgarden. Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden, who leads the series points this year after winning two of the first three races, led the rain-delayed second day of the Indianapolis 500 Open Test on Thursday with a top lap of 229.519 mph in the No. 2 Shell Team Penske Chevrolet. That lap was nearly 2.5 mph faster than the top Wednesday speed of 227.187 by six-time series champion Scott Dixon. RESULTS: Thursday | Two-Day Combined Newgarden is seeking his first Indianapolis 500 presentedRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – A day full of action at Texas Motor Speedway concluded on Saturday afternoon with one final hour of practice for drivers and teams to get their cars dialed in for the XPEL 375. When the checkered flag flew on the session, Josef Newgarden was on top of the leaderboard with a lap of 23.235 seconds (223.108 mph). After starting the day off 14th in first practice, Newgarden’s result in final practice marked a steady progression throughout the day for the Team PenskeRead More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – Felix Rosenqvist will lead the field to the green in Sunday’s XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway after putting up the fastest lap in qualifying to score the pole position. The two-lap average of 221.110 mph (46.891 seconds) was enough to boost the Arrow McLaren SP driver to the top of the board just 11 cars into qualifying, where he would outlast the remaining drivers to score his first pole since 2019 and first career pole on an oval. “It was aRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Traditionally, silly season always cause a lot of buzz in the NTT IndyCar Series. This upcoming season is no different and it involves drivers who’ve won the Indianapolis 500 and others looking to really hit their stride in the sport. With certain changes, time will tell if some team chapters will continue or they’ll turn a brand new page in a sport that continues to grow. There’s one central theme among those drivers who’ll drive elsewhere, they’re all powered by Honda. In this preview installment, we’llRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Takuma Sato will continue his NTT IndyCar Series career in 2022. It was announced Thursday morning that he’ll drive for Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing’s No. 51 team on a full-time basis. Sato will take over the Honda-powered entry that was primarily driven by Romain Grosjean this past season. The two-team effort were able to score a pole in the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis and ended the year with three podiums — all accomplished by the Frenchman, who’ll nowRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Takuma Sato won’t return to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in 2022. The team confirmed Sato’s departure Tuesday afternoon with a lengthy appreciation post for his contributions to the squad. The 44-year-old wrapped up his fourth straight year with RLL Racing, finishing 11th in the NTT IndyCar Series standings this season. Sato scored four wins from 2018-2020, including the 104th Indy 500 which marked RLL Racing’s first 500 win since Buddy Rice in 2004. Including Sato’s previous tenure in 2012, he scored sixRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After not having an NTT IndyCar Series on the West Coast for the first time since 1946 last year, the region will be the final destination for the next three weeks. The first leg of the West Coast Swing begins at Portland International Raceway where the news continue to be endless. Among the 27-car field, there’ll be another debutant in American Open Wheel Racing, driving for a team that’s making its series return. That being former Formula 2 driver Callum Ilott, who’ll drive for the rebrandedRead More

Posted On August 22, 2021By Motorsports TribuneIn Breaking News, Headline News, IndyCar

Newgarden Wins in Penske Power Play at WWTR

By INDYCAR MADISON, Ill. – Josef Newgarden earned his second victory of the season by winning the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on Saturday night at World Wide Technology Raceway in a race that shuffled the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship deck. Newgarden drove his No. 2 Sonsio Team Penske Chevrolet to victory by 0.5397 of a second over Pato O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP. O’Ward didn’t enter Victory Lane, but he also was a big winner of the night by taking the championship lead by 10Read More