First Japanese Driver Wins Long Beach Grand Prix

Takuma Sato, driving for legendary owner A.J. Foyt, became the first Japanese driver to win an Indycar race, running away from American Graham Rahal to take the checkered flag in the 39th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Sato provided the first victory since 2002 for team owner Foyt, whose health prevented him from making the trip west.

"We've had a lot of drivers, but none of them wanted to win," Foyt said from Waller, Texas. "He wants to win, he tries real hard, he gives good feedback."

Sato's feedback Sunday was that his Honda-powered Dallara was as perfect as the Long Beach weather.

Sato, increasing his lead every lap as the race wound down, led Rahal by 5.3 seconds at the conclusion of the 80-lap race on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary street course. By doing so, he moved into second place in the IZOD IndyCar Series championship, eight points behind 10th-place finisher Helio Castroneves.

He is the fifth driver to record his first Indycar victory at Long Beach.

Justin Wilson, who started the race 22nd, finished third for Dale Coyne Racing. Trailing him were pole-sitter Dario Franchitti and J.R. Hildebrand.

"After the first couple of races, a fourth feels pretty good," said four-time champion Franchitti, who finished 25th at St. Petersburg and Birmingham. He led 27 laps, gave up the lead for two laps to Will Power on a pit stop, and then Sato came out of the pits ahead of Power to lead the final 50 laps.

It was a big day for teams that aren't The Big 3. According to the IndyCar Series, the last time owners Chip Ganassi, Roger Penske or Michael Andretti didn't have a driver on the podium was April 13, 2003 at Motegi, Japan. On that day, Rahal Letterman Racing was on the podium—as it was Sunday with Graham Rahal racing for his father Bobby Rahal, entertainer David Letterman and businessman Mike Lanigan.

Prior to Sunday, Sato was primarily known for crashing equipment and for his failed last-lap pass on Franchitti at last year's Indianapolis 500 that, like so many other afternoons, ended in a crash.

He changed teams—his third in four years—creating what appeared to be an odd cultural pairing between Sato and his legendary Texas owner, but it is one that has worked.

Unfortunately for Foyt, he is scheduled to have back surgery in the coming week and was not at the race, which his his first win at Long Beach.

"I hate that Dad's not here," said team director Larry Foyt, whose driving career didn't take off as he had hoped and had been asked by A.J. to get in on the management side of the business. "This is awesome. This is his race team. What a super day. We knew we had been fast lately, we just had to put it together."

Foyt said the chemistry between Sato and the team, especially race engineer Don Halliday, was immediate.

The last time Foyt's team won a race was July 7, 2002, when Airton Dare won in Kansas. The last victory on a road course was 1978 at Silverstone, U.K.

Coincidentally, it was five years ago during the Long Beach race weekend that Danica Patrick became the first woman to win a major open wheel race—in Japan. Now, a Japanese driver has won one, too, in the red, white and blue ABC Supply Honda—in Long Beach.

Just as it had been a long dry spell for Foyt, it has been a while since Sato was atop a podium, going back to 2003 in the Masters of Formula 3 series. He drove in Formula One from 2004-08.

Sato drove two seasons for KV Racing Technology in the IndyCar Series, and last year for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

His victory will be popular in his native country.

"I think it's great news from a sporting point of view for the Japanese all over the world competing," Sato said. "Any win is really great news for us (after) we had such a tragedy (with) the earthquake (in 2011), we had such difficulty—300,000 people still don't have a home, have temporary living. This hopefully is good news to cheer them up."

Sato accomplished what other Japanese drivers couldn't, from Hiro Matsushita to Shinji Nakano to Hideki Mutoh to Tora Takagi, but credited them for paving his way to America.

He said he could hear a lot of cheering from the Japanese community on the parade lap, and that winning at Long Beach was particularly gratifying, not only because of the race's history, but because he felt he had some unfinished business. He was on his way to a third-place finish last year but was punted on the last lap by Ryan Hunter-Reay and finished eighth.

So maybe it was karma that dealt Hunter-Reay such a blow after qualifying second. The defending series champion and 2010 race winner fell back throughout the race. He crashed on Lap 51 and finished 24th after winning two weeks ago at Barber Motorsports Park.

"Some of my corners that were my strongest were the weakest today," said Hunter-Reay, a former resident of Dana Point and Newport Beach. "I'm just trying anything. It just went from bad to worse. We just missed it today, and I missed it for sure."

It was a big day for Santa Clarita-based Honda Performance Development. It had the top four finishers in what is essentially its home race. Chevrolet had dominated the engine war thus far, having won the first two races, both pole positions and five of the six podium spots.

The start went off without incident in Turn 1, but the 27-car field didn't get through the first lap without incident.

Rookie Tristan Vautier, sent to the back of the grid because of a penalty, ran into the back of Scott Dixon, who was starting 26th and making the worst start of his career. Dixon, one of the most consistent drivers in the series, lost a lap but incredibly finished 11th.

Vautier was given a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact on Lap 2 but the yellow flag on Lap 3 limited the damage; after the first round of scheduled pit stops he was running in the top 5, but his effort was undone for a pit incident on Lap 55 when he rolled into the pitting car of Will Power and was assessed a second penalty.

On the second lap, Sebastian Saavedra crashed in Turn 9 while trying to pass Simona de Silvestro.

Driving for L.A. owner Jay Penske, Saavedra's was the worst in a bad day for Dragon Racing; three-time winner Sebastien Bourdais started and finished 15th.

"The yellows didn't fall at the right time for us and we struggled with two of our pit stops," Bourdais said.

A few drivers at the back of the field pitted, including Wilson and Marco Andretti, who finished seventh.

Even though the race was shortened from 85 to 80 laps to eliminate fuel conservation as a strategy, and on a track that historically is difficult to pass, it was a good day for those who started deep in the field.

Only three starters in the top 10,  Sato (4th), Franchitti (1st) and 10th-place Helio Castroneves (6th), actually finished in the top 10. Rahal started 11th, Wilson 24th, Hildebrand 12th, sixth-place Servia 18th, seventh-place Andretti 25th, eighth-place Simon Pagenaud 17th, and ninth-place Simona de Silvestro 19th.

It was a particularly good drive for Servia, who lives in Santa Monica. He was initially assessed a 30 second penalty for avoidable contact on the last lap when he made contact with Tony Kanaan that would have dropped him to 18th, but the penalty was later rescinded; in qualifying, he had been assessed a penalty for causing a red flag when he put his car into the wall while avoiding the disabled car of Scott Dixon, but that was later rescinded too, allowing him to start 18th instead of 25th.

Alex Tagliani, driving for owner Bryan Herta of Valencia, finished 19th after getting hit by Camarillo's Charlie Kimball, who finished 21st. Kimball's Race With Insulin Honda appeared indesctructible; he crashed it twice and was still running at the end.