Sato Scores His Best Oval Qualifying

NEWTON, June 20, 2010: IZOD IndyCar Series rookie Takuma Sato, who had never raced an oval track until seven weeks ago, looked like an oval veteran Saturday as he drove the No. 5 Lotus - KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara/Firestone entry to a season best seventh qualifying position on the tight Iowa Speedway oval.

Sato, a Formula One veteran with 93 events, will start Sunday’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 event inside of row four, alongside recent Texas winner Ryan Briscoe, when the green flag drops at 1:30 p.m. CDT. The 250-lap contest will be televised live on Versus-TV.

Sato posted four laps over the 180 miles per hour mark Saturday on the .875-mile oval track east of Des Moines with an average speed of 180.672 m.p.h. Will Power won the pole position with a 181.337 m.p.h.

Sato, whose best previous oval qualifications were 11th at Kansas and Texas, has adapted well to the new oval racing with strong top-ten performances in the middle of his three initial oval races. The seventh qualifying spot for Sato just missed his 2010 qualifying best of sixth earlier this year on the road course at Barber International Raceway.

Mario Moraes piloted the No. 32 KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara/Firestone car to a four-lap average of 178.974 m.p.h. to place the Brazilian driver in 16th position in the 25-driver lineup. Moraes had to sit out the morning practice session due to a mechanical issue, but the 21-year-old racer was strong in the second practice in the afternoon.

E.J. Viso, coming off an impressive run in the Texas Firestone 550K, had to settle for 19th on the Iowa starting grid in the No. 8T PDVSA — KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara/Firestone machine with a 178.091 clocking. Viso drove to the top-five at Kansas and Texas races before misfortune dropped the Venezuela driver back at the finish.

DRIVER QUOTES:

TAKUMA SATO -- #5 LOTUS – KV RACING TECHNOLOGY HONDA/DALLARA/FIRESTONE: "I am very happy with the result today. The Lotus-KV Racing Technology team did a fantastic job. I had a reasonably productive practice session this morning. We worked hard on improving the setup for qualifying so I am very happy with the progress we made. The G-loads are high here with the heavy download package and the high banks especially in turns one and two. I have driven many types of ovals in the last two months and this one is completely different to the other three. Oval racing is always exciting and I look forward to the race tomorrow.”

MARIO MORAES -- #32 KV RACING TECHNOLOGY HONDA/DALLARA/FIRESTONE: “We expected more speed in the KV Racing car. Unfortunately, we had a problem in the morning practice and we lost almost all of the session. In the second practice, the car felt pretty good and I think we will have a solid car for the race. A lot of things can happen in 250 laps here.”

E.J. VISO -- #8 PDVSA – KV RACING TECHNOLOGY HONDA/DALLARA/FIRESTONE: “It wasn’t the speed we were expecting in qualifying. I was happy with the car that we had in practice. The race trim runs that we did in the morning practice are going to pay off in the race. It’s a shame we didn’t go faster in qualifying because the car has the potential. In my first two flying laps, I had a moment over the bump in turns one and two. The car felt like the front was a bit too positive for qualifying. But I do feel good about our car for the race. At Kansas and Texas, we were able to come from the back to the Top Five, so I am looking forward to moving up in the race.”