Honda Dominates Indy 500 as Sato Takes Checkered Flag

Takuma Sato won this weekend’s Indianapolis 500 race to become the first Japanese driver to achieve the feat.

Four of the top five finishers—including Sato—and seven of the top 10 drove Honda-powered vehicles. Three-time champ Helio Castroneves finished second with his Chevrolet-powered race car. Rookie Ed Jones finished third followed by Max Chilton and Tony Kanaan, all of who had Honda engines.

The 40-year-old Japanese driver, who led the race twice for 17 laps, seized the lead from Castroneves on lap 195 of the 200-lap race. He then held on to edge out Castroneves by 0.2 seconds, which is the sixth-closest finish in the history of the famed race.

Sato is in his eighth year on the Verizon IndyCar Series after driving seven years in Formula One. He has won only one other IndyCar race, which he notched in 2013. He was beat on the final lap of the 2012 Indy 500 by winner Dario Franchitti.

The victory is the second consecutive at the Indy 500 for the Andretti Autosport Honda team—and third in the last four years—following last year’s win by rookie Alexander Rossi. Sato joined the team this year.

Castroneves, who led nine laps, had passed Chilton with seven laps to go. He is one of seven drivers with three Indianapolis 500 runner-up finishes.

The race saw 35 lead changes, with Chilton leading 50 laps. The average speed was 155 mph. Pole sitter Scott Dixon finished 32nd after crashing into Jay Howard on Lap 53. Two-time F1 champ Fernando Alonso was the top-qualifying rookie, in fifth, and led 27 laps before ending up 24th after his Honda engine blew on lap 180.