Takuma Sato was unable to match his position from Saturday during Sunday’s second qualifying session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but the Japanese driver will still start from the inside of the second row.
The Andretti Autosport driver had been second quickest on Saturday, but despite improving his four-lap average to 231.365mph on Sunday, it was only good enough for fourth place as Scott Dixon, Ed Carpenter and Alexander Rossi filled the front row.
Sato admitted to pushing hard during his run, and touched the wall on the exit of turn two, but despite this he was able to keep going and lock himself into the 101st Indianapolis 500, where he also expects to have a strong car.
“We were pushing so hard – Lap 3 and 4 were so on edge and I brushed the wall, but held on,” said Sato. “I’m very happy to be in the second row, obviously, the front row would be nicer but this was a great team effort. I am very happy with where we are staring.
“(The race) will be a different scenario than qualifying but I think we have a strong car in the race situation and hopefully we can prove that.”
