Takuma Sato (佐藤 琢磨) was born January 28, 1977 in Tokyo.he is the one of the most popular Japanese automobile racing drivers and the most successful Japanese Formula driver in history. Currently He is racing for KV Racing Technology in the IndyCar Series under the Lotus banner.
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Early Years
An interesting fact that makes Sato stand out amongst his Japanese driver peers is that he has relatively little experience motor racing in Japan. He actually, began his sporting career with bicycle racing, taking home several national junior championships.
He launched his karting career in 1996, at the late age of 19, later entering into the Suzuka circuit Racing School (SRS) run by Honda. By 1998, Sato had stepped up to the All Japan Formula Three Championship and drove for the Mugen-Dome project, but broke off his contract with the team mid-season, moving to England to pursue a racing career in Europe. Throughout 1998 and 1999, Sato took part in Junior Formula races around the continent, progressing to the British Formula Three Championship at the end of 1999. In 00/01 Sato race engaged in full British Formula Three seasons, taking third place in 2000 and winning the championship in 2001, in the process taking the pole-position on the podium sixteen times over the two year period. Also during this time, Sato competed in several international races, at Spa-Francorchamps, Zandvoort, and Macau.
Formula One
By 2002, Sato was ready to graduate to Formula One finding a home with the Honda-powered Jordan team. In Austria Sato was involved in a dramatic crash when Nick Heidfeld lost control of his Sauber under braking, striking the side of Sato’s car, punching a hole into the cockpit. Suffering from a minor concussion, Sato was unable to leave the car for several minutes having been struck in the legs, thankfully he soon recovered. During the final race of the season at his home race in Suzuka, Sato scored his first points. Finishing out the season with 2 points, 5 points behind his teammate Fisichella. He did however manage to out qualify his more experienced teammate on four occasions.
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