Former F1 driver and two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato says 2023 IndyCar could advance to the IMSA Sports Car Championship with Dale Coyne Racing’s five-oval entry.
David Marcus enters his second season with the HMD Motorsport entry in Dale Coyne, but the full-time seat at Wiz Rick Ware Racing will be handed over to Formula 2 race winner Marcus Armstrong.
Funding for Takuma Sato comes mainly from Honda and Panasonic in Japan, with Honda looking to expand Takuma Sato’s role at the Japanese brand, so 2023 could only be an oval-only IndyCar program, reportedly from high quality. .
Takuma Sato’s long-term manager Steve Husek told Autosport, “No final decision has been made, but we are waiting for Dale and Rick to put the final pieces together.”
“It will take some time, but now that everyone knows what we have and what we don’t have, I would say we are in the final stretch to close the deal.”
“But I think it’s a part-time deal. And then combine that with some IMSA options. One is the Acura NSX GT3, which I can’t go into detail about, but it’s not Rick’s. The other is the RWR LMP2 entry . . .
Former F1 driver Takuma Sato has won the Indy 500 twice with Andretti Autosport in 2017 and Rahal Letterman Lanigan in 2020.
In 2012, he missed out on the win at the Rahal Letterman Lanigan when he hit former winner Dario Franchitti in the famous last lap.
Takuma Sato, who recorded his first Long Beach street win in 2013 for AJ Foyt Racing, has four more IndyCar victories.
He won the road courses at Portland and Barber Motorsport Park in 2018 and 2019 respectively, and won the Short Oval at Gateway in 2019.
Category: F1 / Sato Takuma / indy car / IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship
