Sato joins Ganassi to race ovals only in IndyCar

INDIANAPOLIS — Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato will wind down his profession this season by scaling again to ovals solely in IndyCar because the Japanese driver strikes to Chip Ganassi Racing.

Sato will share the No. 11 Honda with rookie Marcus Armstrong, who was employed to drive the IndyCar avenue and street course races for Ganassi. There are 5 oval races on this yr’s IndyCar schedule and Tuesday’s announcement mentioned solely that Sato will “pilot the No. 11 Honda in oval competitors.”

Sato would nearly actually be on the Indianapolis 500, which he gained in 2017 driving for Michael Andretti and 2020 driving for Bobby Rahal. Sato is the one Japanese winner of “The Best Spectacle in Racing.”

Sato completed third at Indy in 2019 and crashed on the ultimate lap racing Dario Franchitti for the 2012 victory. Franchitti gained the race for Ganassi, a company Sato is lastly becoming a member of in a profession that has spanned greater than 20 years, a number of groups and a begin in Formulation One.

“Specializing in the oval races is a brand new chapter for me however I am thrilled to have the power to race with group members and teammates which have gained the championships and Indianapolis 500 prior to now, which is an incredible benefit,” Sato mentioned.

Ganassi gained final yr’s Indianapolis 500 with Marcus Ericsson and the 2021 IndyCar championship with Alex Palou.

Sato has six profession victories over 13 seasons in IndyCar. His 215 profession begins is sixth amongst energetic drivers and twenty second all-time. He spent final season driving for Dale Coyne Racing.

Sato spent seven seasons in F1 from 2002-08 with 90 profession begins. He earned 44 factors with one podium.