April 2012

“It wasn’t a good day for us unfortunately," said Sato. "The first practice session was cut short because the engineers weren’t happy about some parameters and we had to stop early to check the gearbox.  Everything ended up okay but the session was cut short which didn’t help us in terms of setting up the car. And then in the second practice I only ran a few laps before we had an engine problem which led to us not being able to take part in qualifying because of the amount of time it took to change the engine. The long straight with heavy braking here means you can overtake but starting from the back it is going to be tough. We will fight back to gain positions tomorrow and hopefully we will have a strong package.  We will see how the car will be in the warm-up tomorrow.  I don’t mind whether it is a dry race or a wet race. To go from the back of the grid in the wet would be quite difficult in terms of visibility but there is more of a chance to go forward. In a dry race, realistically it would be very difficult to get a top result but nothing is impossible. It will be an exciting race for sure.”

The Itaipava São Paulo Indy 300 Nestlé marks Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s first time to compete on the Streets of São Paulo.  Previously the team competed in five CART-sanctioned events in Rio de Janeiro from 1996-2000 with Bobby Rahal (1996-1998), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-00), and Kenny Brack (2000).  The best start for the team on the 1.86-mile, D-shaped oval in Rio was third by Rahal in 1997. The team’s best finish in Brazil is fourth, by Herta (1998) and Papis (1999). Over the 10 entries between 1996-00, the team had four top-five and eight top-10 starts as well as two top-five and seven top-10 finishes (chart available).  The team will field the No. 15 entry for Takuma Sato.

“It’s a shame for the fans that the weather was unlike the usual Long Beach weather," said Sato. "The first practice session started with damp conditions and we ran very few laps just to see how the initial setup was in terms of ride height and those sorts of things.  We didn’t have a proper run today so all of the work is moving to tomorrow. Hopefully we have a good one-hour session before qualifying. It was too wet for dry tires and too dry for wet tires. I was on a wet patch on dry tires and touched the wall which damaged the front wing but the team fixed it and we will be ready for a good day tomorrow.  We didn’t run in the second practice session because there was no knowledge to be gained in the wet. If the weather forecast was for rain Saturday or Sunday, we might have run but the forecast is for dry weather.”