The weather in Indianapolis is near perfect for running race cars at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but with just an hour left in the first session, there have now been two incidents that have red-flagged practice with Kyle Larson hitting the wall with his #17 Arrow McLaren-Hendrick Honda, and Takuma Sato hitting the wall just minutes after Larson's incident was cleared.
The green flag had just waived allowing cars to return to track, with Takuma Sato running his #75 Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Honda. In the replay, it looks like Sato came out of Turn 1 and quickly lost the rear of the car before hitting the wall sideways before Turn 2.
Sato did get out of the race car with some assistance from the AMR team. He has since been seen and released by the infield medical center. In an interview with IndyCar's broadcast team, Sato shared with that he is in a little pain, but he's ok: "It's hard. My body's fine. I think within a week I'll be 100%."
Trouble in Turn 1! 🫣@TakumaSatoRacer's No. 75 is stopped on the track after heavy contact.
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) April 24, 2025
📺: INDYCAR YouTube pic.twitter.com/6kNUmfOEt9
As for Sato's perspective of what happened in the turn, he still needs to speak with the team. He speculates that he simply lost it — maybe going into Turn 1 a little too quickly.
Track clean up delayed testing as Sato's crash was a little more impactful than Larson's incident — leaving an array of liquids on the track.
The Japanese driver, and two-time Indy 500 champion is a one-off entry for the RLL team for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 this year, having previously ran 15 seasons in the series -- 12 of those as a full-time driver.
Today is the second day of the first real practice sessions for IndyCar drivers aiming to get a seat in the Indy 500 this year. Yesterday's sessions were delayed by technical issues, but drivers were still able to complete the Rookie Orientation Program (ROP) and Veteran refresher tests, as well as get some practice laps in with an extended session. This morning's laps were part of IndyCar's "boost" session — where teams have been able to run with the engine boost (extra power) available to them during 500 qualifying and race.
