First LMGT3 podium gives Sato boost for race in Texas
Japan’s Marino Sato will make his debut at the Circuit of The Americas this weekend, with the United Autosports crew of Sato, Josh Caygill and Nico Pino travelling to Texas after securing their first podium finish in the No. 95 McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo.
The first half of the season saw a best finish of 6th in the 6 Hours of Imola, which was followed by two DNFs at Spa-Francorchamps and Le Mans. The team bounced back in Brazil with a hard fought third place finish to get the second half of the season off to a good start.
“Sao Paulo was good result for us,” said the 25-year-old from Tokyo. “At the beginning of the season in Qatar, and all the tests that we did before the season, I think we were quite far away from thinking about winning the race or even being in the top three.
“Since then, at Imola and Spa, we've been building up a good momentum; even in Le Mans. I think we're in a reasonable place to really aim for a win or at least a podium, and we finally got it in Brazil. So, we're definitely going on the right way.”
Looking ahead to his first time at the Circuit of The Americas, Marino Sato was quite candid about the challenge that he and the team faced. “I've never been to CoTA before, I’ve just done a day in a sim,” Sato said. “I will not really know until I get to do a real lap, because I think there's quite a lot of difference between the real life and the simulator.
“It's clear there's a lot of undulations and a lot of corners that I don't really have a reference, so I will need to sort that out quickly in free practice. It's definitely going to be a steep learning curve.
“We need to see how our car suits there or not. I don’t think it's our weakest, so I think we can expect a good result at the Lone Star Le Mans.”
Looking ahead to the last three races of the 2024 FIA WEC, including a race in Japan at Fuji Speedway in just over two weeks, which is Marino Sato looking forward to? “I know Bahrain really well, because I did quite a few races in F2 but for Fuji, I don't have much experience.
“However, it was the same in Brazil. I had never been there before, and I also didn't have enough time to do the sim. I basically went straight into FP1and everyone was learning but rushing. I think it will be same for next two rounds here and in Japan. It will be a lot of work that we need to put in, but I'm really looking forward to all three of them on the back of Sao Paulo.”
Lone Star Le Mans takes this place this weekend with the 6 hour race getting underway at 13h00 local time on Sunday (1 September).
