July 2012

"Overall it was a good day and a good qualifying session but unfortunately we had a penalty which was quite harsh," said Sato. "Obviously I don’t want to impede anyone of course.  I went wide in Turn 1 and there were a lot of marbles. I went back on track when the Marshalls said to go. I couldn’t see much in the distance; not the closing speeds of any cars.  I tried my best to avoid impeding anyone but unfortunately I was penalized.  We worked through our run program and made good progress.  Relatively, we lost a little speed at the end of the practice session when the track dried but we came back and were strong in qualifying.  Starting ninth (after the engine penalties) of two cars is a good effort.  I enjoy driving in Toronto and this was our best qualifying position on a street course this season.  Hopefully we can continue to learn in tomorrow’s warm-up and move forward in the race.”

“It was a good day," said Sato. "Considering the amount of time we had in practice was relatively short, we learned a lot.  We tried a couple of different setups to find out ride height, gearing and etc. as the team hasn’t been here for a long time.  We made good progress; I’m reasonably happy with the balance.  We will look at all of the data and hopefully continue to make progress tomorrow.  (On Push to Pass:) Today we tried the extra boost; the extra power feels good.  We need to work on the gearing for that but it seems to be good for overtaking as well as defending. I’m not sure how many times we will be able to use it or how long it will last each time but it is definitely a good tool for the race.”