July 2012

"It was a good test day despite being cut short by the weather," said Sato. "We were able to check a number of things like ratios, ride heights and the other initial things you check in the first practice session of a race weekend so it was nice to get it done this morning.  Then we started to work a little on the setup which was interesting. Actually it was quite good fun making the changes; you can feel the changes improving the car and know you are collecting very valuable data so it was a productive day."

“It is a fantastic result," said Sato. "I am very pleased for the team and very proud of our effort today.  It wasn’t an easy race. I had a great battle with Dario.  I could see he was pushing really hard and sliding. I had an opportunity and overtook him which was great.  The last stint was very exciting. We had a battle with (Alex) Tagliani and then Helio.  I had to go as fast as I could; I pushed as much as I could and tried to get an opportunity to pass Helio but it was just not quite there yet.  I knew he had a little bit longer sequence of the push to pass. I used it bit by bit, but also he’s reacting all the time the last few laps and he used it every single straight. It was very difficult to catch him. Once we were very close, but it was not close enough to make a maneuver.  After May we had some difficult races and came back very strong and made good progress and shall keep our head down and do the job for the next four races which will be very exciting. I’m very happy for second place today.”

“I really enjoyed qualifying. It’s a fantastic result for the team," said Sato. "The boys are working really well together. After a couple of difficult races, I’m really pleased to be back in the top-six.  It was a good qualifying session.  We were absolutely happy with the balance in the practice session but still we made good progress and showed good performance in Round 1 of qualifying.  And then of course, Round 2 was my favorite.  I was actually grinning under the visor because I love to drive in the wet so much!  I had absolutely no problem in Round 2 and wish we had wet qualifying in Round 3. "

“Winning the pole in Edmonton meant a lot," said Sato. "Edmonton used to have a series of ultra high-speed corners but now it's all about low speed turns.  It has got a couple of long straights followed by very tight hairpins so to have strong braking stability and traction are very important. I expect we will be competitive at Edmonton. Obviously the team doesn't have last year’s data but we were in good shape in the street course and heavy braking track so we should be strong there.”