Takuma Sato at Le Mans with Dome team

[haggy]

Saw Takuma Sato at Le Mans with the Dome team and e-mailed feedmesportscars and they put it on there site!

http://feedmesportscars.com/node/4536

[Jungles]

Interesting.

I'm not sure if Sato is endurance-racing material though. Those types of races require consistency, which Sato unfortunately lacks.

But as a former F1 driver, he's got creds.

[entropy]

Jungles said:

Interesting.

I'm not sure if Sato is endurance-racing material though. Those types of races require consistency, which Sato unfortunately lacks.

But as a former F1 driver, he's got creds.

What makes you say that?

He was more consistent since he raced for Super Aguri with some stunning overtaking manoeuvres to boot as well especially against someone like Alonso. When was the last time Sato crashed into his opponent?

[refoman2]

thats cos he was never anywhere near anyone to hit! lol

[Jungles]

entropy said:

He was more consistent since he raced for Super Aguri with some stunning overtaking manoeuvres to boot as well especially against someone like Alonso. When was the last time Sato crashed into his opponent?

While I agree that Sato has become a solid driver, I still doubt that he has the consistency to be successful in endurance racing. He is capable of being fast, and is a strong racer, but can he keep it up in long stints over a 24-hour stretch, especially in a car with a compromised setup?

[Dr JonboyG]

refoman2 said:

thats cos he was never anywhere near anyone to hit! lol

He would regularly gain 4 or 5 spots at the start of each race last year; he;s very handy.

[sniff petrol]

entropy said:

...with some stunning overtaking manoeuvres to boot as well especially against someone like Alonso. When was the last time Sato crashed into his opponent?

One move on Alonso in Canada 2007 when Fred was on the crap soft tyres at the end but Sato had a nice set of harder rubber worth several seconds a lap at that point.

[entropy]

Jungles said:

entropy said:

He was more consistent since he raced for Super Aguri with some stunning overtaking manoeuvres to boot as well especially against someone like Alonso. When was the last time Sato crashed into his opponent?

While I agree that Sato has become a solid driver, I still doubt that he has the consistency to be successful in endurance racing. He is capable of being fast, and is a strong racer, but can he keep it up in long stints over a 24-hour stretch, especially in a car with a compromised setup?

Then someone should stick him in an endurance race to give him a chance to prove his critics wrong - again!

sniff petrol said:

entropy said:

...with some stunning overtaking manoeuvres to boot as well especially against someone like Alonso. When was the last time Sato crashed into his opponent?

One move on Alonso in Canada 2007 when Fred was on the crap soft tyres at the end but Sato had a nice set of harder rubber worth several seconds a lap at that point.

JV passed Schumi in Portugal because Schumi was baulked by a backmarker

Likewise Mansell got by Senna with similar circumstances in Hungary.

Alonso passed Schumi on the outside of 130R even though Alonso had the better car.

FFS, you could analyse every overtaking manoeuvre to death but give credit where credit's due, that move was stunning to watch. Sato seized his opportunity with both hands and looked like a champ when most people - myself included - was expecting Sato to bin it and crash into Alonso.