A redemption story: Bold move rewarded as Takuma Sato wins Indy 500

INDIANAPOLIS –To some, he was Takuma the brave, Takuma the bold. But to others, he was Takuma the reckless.

Indianapolis 500 fans around the world took notice of Takuma Sato in 2012 after the Japanese driver made a daring yet ill-fated pass attempt to the inside of eventual winner Dario Franchitti on Turn 1 of the final lap of the race. When the passing maneuver failed, the world watched in incredulity as Sato went spinning into the wall.

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Some said he threw away his best chance to win. Others credited him for the courage it took to take the chance.

At the end, though, he was the driver who risked it all and lost. That was his legacy, his chapter in the 500 chronicles. And it would be forever, unless he changed it.

On Sunday, that’s precisely what he did.

Sato erased that legacy and etched a new one in 500 lore by holding off three-time champion Helio Castroneves to win a chaotic and wreck-marred 101st running of the Indianapolis 500. He became  Takuma, the champion.

“After 2012, I really need(ed) to correct something I left over,” a still somewhat shell-shocked Sato said during his post-race news conference. “Today I was so happy that I made it and won in a good move.”

And what a move it was. Floating around the top 10 since near the halfway point, Sato’s signature pass of the race came with 22 laps to go when he maneuvered around the outside of runner-up Castroneves and third-place finisher Ed Jones, setting himself up for triumph.

It was that pass that affirmed what Andretti Autosport boss Michael Andretti knew when he hired Sato back in December: That the 40-year-old is one cold-blooded wheelman.

“We had the right guy doing it, for sure,” Andretti said of Sato, who also had to overcome an early pit issue to win the race. “He drove a superb race.

"There was one move where he passed two cars on the outside in (Turn) 1, which was a very important move, because that gave him the track position of the top-two guys in front of him. That was one of the moves of the race, in my opinion. When I saw that, I'm like, ‘Whoa, I think we're going to win this thing.’ He didn't let us down. He drove very, very well."

Ten laps and a couple of yellow flags later, the race became a 12-lap sprint to the finish. Though Chip Ganassi Racing's Max Chilton had led for a race-high 50 laps, he had nothing for Sato and Castroneves at the end. Both went around Chilton before battling for position, swapping the lead twice before Sato made the decisive maneuver of the race as he slipped around Castroneves for the lead. The Team Penske driver made a desperate attempt to pass on Lap 198 but it was for naught, and Sato held on for the victory.

Sato — overlooked all May in an Andretti Autosport garage filled with a Formula One superstar, a reigning champion, a former champion and a driver with a legendary last name — became the first Japanese driver to win the 500.

The victory was not only redemptive for Sato but salvation for Andretti. The owner, who had stacked the field with a race-high six cars, looked on in horror as one by one, his team fell to the side.

First it was rookie Jack Harvey, who was taken out in Conor Daly’s ill-fated passing attempt on Lap 66. Then Ryan Hunter-Reay became the first casualty of Honda’s ongoing engine problems. His car quit after 136 laps and 28 laps led.

"It was so weird because it was almost like that last year," said Andretti, who won his third 500 in four years. "We had two dominant cars, they both take each other out. At that point our best car was 20th. It was sort of a very similar thing. I'm like, 'What is going on here?'"

Not long after Hunter-Reay's car shut down, two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso watched his engine and 500 dreams die. Combined with a pit mishap for 2016 champion Alexander Rossi and contact that caused Marco Andretti to lose a winglet, the race was falling apart for a team that had dominated the early part of the contest.

“When I was seeing each Honda going away, I'm like, ‘Here we go,’" said Castroneves, bitterly disappointed with his third runner-up finish but proud of Sato, 40, for representing the elder statesmen of IndyCar. “That's what I said. But they gave the good engine to Alonso, but they gave the mean engine to Takuma Sato. That was a good one.

"Takuma Sato is a veteran, a great driver. He has a lot of misses. But when he gets it, he gets it, and not only in qualifying and racing. But today was his day." 

The victory was Sato’s second in IndyCar; his first was in  2013 at Long Beach.

Sato remembers well the reception he got when he returned to Japan after winning at Long Beach. But when he returns after winning the 500, well, a rock star’s welcome is probably understating it.

“I mean, at the Long Beach 2013, I went back to Japan and did a press conference,” Sato said. “There was close to 300 media on the Honda first floor. The fans really, it was crazy good, in a positive way. So this one is even bigger. This is, like, the best win in my life in this moment.

"I still just cannot believe it.”

Follow IndyStar reporter Jim Ayello on Twitter and Instagram: @jimayello.