IndyCar Round 5: Colton Herta wins for the first time this season! Takuma Sato is in 7th place[F1-Gate .com]

IndyCar-The 2022 Season Round 5 GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway starts in wet conditions, with dry, again wet, and even extreme wet and race conditions changing rapidly and drastically. It was a very difficult battle.

Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian) showed excellent machine control ability in the race with the rule that the checker flag was swung down in 2 hours from the scheduled 85 laps, and in 2022 I ran away to the first victory.

And Simon Pagenaud (Meyer Shank Racing), who runs on a machine equipped with a Honda engine like Hata, finished in 2nd place. Honda’s first victory of the season was achieved with a 1-2 finish.

Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian, a 22-year-old from California who runs Colton Herta, read that the road would dry out in a short time shortly after the start of the race and decided to switch from wet tires to slick tires. And when it continued to rain at the end of the race, he made a good decision to replace the slick tires he had once installed with wet tires and pulled the victory back to himself. The driver continued to run without mistakes, and Hata scored his seventh win at IndyCar as the team made the right decisions.

Simon Pagenaud was 20th in qualifying, but he put wet conditions on his side and moved Meyer Shank Racing’s car up to 2nd place. In the end, the race reached the goal on lap 75, two hours after the start, but Pagenaud, who was running 11th at the time of lap 41, moved up one after another to the end of the race with very low grip. , Will be on the podium for the first time this season. Marcus Ericsson (Chip Ganassi Racing), like Pagenaud, fought a great race, overcoming the challenges of early contact and the resulting long pit stop to finish in 4th place.

Takuma Sato (Dale Coyne Racing with RWR) finished in 7th place, which is his personal best this season, from 13th place in qualifying. Takuma Sato, who changed to slick tires only after running two laps from the start with wet tires and showed great speed in the dry road conditions in the middle of the race, showed a fight that was expected to reach the podium.

However, on Turn 1 immediately after the restart on lap 42, the two cars in front of him came into contact and were pushed out to the grass, so they spun. He dropped a lot from there to 17th. It seemed to be quite difficult to pave from there, but when it rained further and the grip on the road surface became lower with wet tires, Takuma Sato, who is good at battles in difficult conditions, was demonstrated. One after another in the ranking. He reached the goal under full course caution in 7th place. Takuma Sato’s teammate, rookie Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports, also finished in 12th place. Their team gained momentum for the 106th Indianapolis 500 Miles, where practice begins next Tuesday.

Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport w / Curb-Agajanian)
“Today’s race was one of the hardest I’ve ever experienced. The strategy of switching from wet tires to dry tires as soon as the race started was successful and could significantly improve my position. I think I was able to do other operations in a timely and accurate manner today. It was a really unbelievable race from wet to dry and back to wet. Thank you to all the fans who watched over the goal without leaving their seats. “

Takuma Sato (Dale Coyne Racing with RWR)
“It was a wild race, but it was also a very fun race. It was also a battle where the rankings went up and down violently. At the best time, I ran 4th. Colton Herta was at the top and behind it. There were two McLarens, then us, and then we were separated from each other. However, one machine spun in front of us at the restart at the end of the race, and I avoided it and got wet. I jumped out on the grass and got into a spin because I was wearing dry tires. It seemed like today’s race was over. I retreated to near the end and struggled so much. I feel sorry for the crew of the team. After that, the rain helped us. I returned to the lead lap from the lap delay, and I was able to concentrate and do my job steadily. As a result, I was able to reach the goal in 7th place. It was a really dramatic race. Our crew of car 51 did a great job and kept me back in the race. Thanks to me Continued to push and was able to fight side-by-side battles with the top drivers. Today I made some very good passes. That spin was very disappointing. But today’s race gave us great momentum for the Indy 500. “

Sato Takuma

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Category: Category: F1 / Indycar

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