After four seasons, Takuma Sato will no longer be a Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team driver in 2022. The departure of the Japanese, who will turn 45 in February, was confirmed by his team last Tuesday, October 5, after a relatively successful journey for both parties in IndyCar. The arrival of Sato in 2018, with a vitola of the current winner of the Indianapolis 500 that he ended up reissuing in 2020, was quite a surprise, motivated by the doubts of Andretti Autosport when it came to renewing with Honda, and provided a second trump card. quality to a team that until then had not had a second full-time coach. His place in the team, although not in the same car, It will be occupied by the British Jack Harvey.
This Monday’s announcement had been anticipated for months, but contrary to expectations, Harvey He will not get on # 30 that Sato leaves vacant, but on car # 45, the third unit for which Rahal confirmed a full program last August. It will therefore be sponsored by Hy-Vee, the company that has financed this expansion, as well as the return of the Iowa Oval. Harvey’s confirmation comes two and a half months after announcing his unexpected departure from Meyer Shank Racing, where he will be replaced by a Simon Pagenaud announced with great fanfare two weeks ago.
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Until now, Bobby Rahal had stated multiple times that the # 45 was the target car in his search for a third pilot among the three candidates who have led it this year: Christian Lundgaard, Santino Ferrucci and Oliver Askew. With this paradigm shift, it is not clear if the chosen one will need to bring substantial own funding to be part of the Rahal program, which would benefit the Dane in the first instance because of Alpine’s support against a Ferrucci who lost his seat last year due to lack of sponsorships, and an Askew who has never contributed personal sponsors in his two years in IndyCar.
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Despite leaving the team that has conquered the Indy 500 this year, Harvey seeks to make a leap in quality with a formation that has frequented the top 10 this year with his three machines, although without victories for the first time since his quality jump in 2015. The 28-year-old British rider does not yet have triumphs on his record, enjoying a great reputation as a qualifier (three first rows and 15 top-6 rankings) that have only translated into a lone 2019 podium at the Indianapolis road and sixteen top 10. Until now, Harvey had been Shank’s franchise man since his driver and team debuted. in the category during the 2017 Indy 500, competing in 49 races to date.
In his second full-time season, Harvey improved two places to finish 13th overall, with two fourth-place finishes at St. Petersburg and Portland as best results, but with the general feeling that Shank has missed multiple chances to get good results frequently as a result of bad strategies or unfortunate stops. A sensation that probably did not contribute to the triumph in Indianapolis, in his first race with the team, of a Hélio Castroneves who will drive a second unit of Shank full time in 2022. Still, the Brazilian suffered those same strategic excesses in Long Beach, when a potential podium was turned into 20th place by an incomprehensible decision not to pit when he played.
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For its part, Sato’s four victories as Rahal driver have been the team’s only in these four years, adding to the triumphs in Portland (2018), Barber and Gateway (2019) his second conquest of the Indy 500 in the historic 2020 edition without an audience. That year he finished seventh overall, his best position in the table since his arrival. to the championship in 2010. However, the inconsistency of the house brand saw him finish in three of those four years behind his teammate Graham Rahal, and in this last season, despite finishing in a solid eleventh position, generally went quite unnoticed, no podiums (a fourth in Detroit for best finish) and no ranking above 15th place in any event.
Despite everything, this does not seem to be the end of the IndyCar adventure for the veteran Sato, with six victories, 14 pole positions and 10 podiums to his credit in 198 races. If all goes as it should, the former Formula 1 driver will be announced in the coming days or weeks as the new occupant of Dale Coyne Racing’s # 51, aligned in co-ownership with Rick Ware Racing. This machine has been vacant after the departure of Romain Grosjean towards Andretti Autosport, with three podiums and one pole in the 13 races he has contested. The Frenchman did not do the full season, giving up his seat in three oval races to a Pietro Fittipaldi who finished 25th in the Indianapolis 500, and the car was 14th with the most points of the season, one spot above the position. de Grosjean overall.