Sato: “We can win races again”
Takuma Sato and Jack Hawksworth say they are maintaining a positive attitude heading into AJ Foyt Racing’s home race, despite lying only 16th and 20th in the championship.
Takuma Sato, A.J. Foyt Enterprises Honda, A.J. Foyt
IndyCar Series
Sato, who scored the team’s last win at Long Beach three years ago, said: “I have never doubted that we can win races again.
“We have great potential so we just need to study and analyze what part didn’t work and why, so we can make continuous progress and make the car faster.”
The ex-Formula 1 driver who is now in his seventh IndyCar season, and his fourth at Foyt, stated: “Texas Motor Speedway is the team's home track so we want to do well there of course. We missed the test there but I feel quite positive about going back to a superspeedway.
“I usually enjoy racing at Texas. It’s the only 1.5miles oval in the series with high banking and that means it is always an exciting race
“Having said that, oval racing can be so much fun when the car works well but if the car is not very friendly then it could be quite difficult to enjoy. We had tough races in last few seasons here so hopefully we have a strong package.”
Hawksworth is not renowned for enjoying oval racing, yet scored his best finish of 10th at Fontana last year in a race which many drivers described as crazy.
He commented of this weekend at TMS: “In over a decade of competing I have never gone racing to "just get through it". I'm absolutely confident that if we can develop a good racecar in practice then I can compete with the best of them.
“We had a disaster mechanically [broken front suspension] during the race here last year but this is a new year and I know the whole team would love to get a result on home soil in beautiful Texas.
“As a driver you just have to focus on the job ahead, keep hitting the reset button and do the best job you can for the team
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