While David Malukas is staying on for his second season in the series driving the Coyne with HMD Motorsports entry, it appears that the full-time Coyne with Rick Ware Racing seat will be taken by Formula 2 race-winner Marcus Armstrong.
Sato’s funding, again largely from Honda Japan and Panasonic, will likely be sufficient only for an oval-only program in 2023, as Honda seeks to expand his role with the Japanese marque.
Sato’s longtime manager Steve Fusek told Motorsport.com: “No final decision has been made, but we’re just waiting for Dale and Rick to put the final pieces together. Not sure why it’s taking a while, but everyone now knows what we have and what we don’t have so I’d say we’re in the final throes of putting the deal together.
“But yes, I think it’s a part-time deal – and then we’ll combine that with some IMSA options. One is with an Acura NSX GT3 – I can’t go into details there, but it’s not Rick’s one – and one is with RWR’s LMP2 entry.”
Former Formula 1 racer Sato achieved his greatest glory at Indy, with a famous last-lap crash in the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda while passing Dario Franchitti in 2012, followed by wins for Andretti Autosport in 2017 and RLL in 2020.
However, he has racked up four other wins, scoring AJ Foyt Racing’s most recent triumph, on the streets of Long Beach in 2013, followed by victories on the natural road courses at Portland International Raceway and Barber Motorsports Park in 2018 and ’19 respectively, and the short oval of World Wide Technology Raceway in Gateway, also in ’19.
Don Bricker, Sato’s race engineer in 2022, will likely find himself elevated within the Dale Coyne Racing team, as Ross Bunnell (Malukas’ race engineer) is shifting to Chip Ganassi Racing for 2023, like Michael Cannon at the end of 2019 and Alex Palou at the end of 2020.
Meanwhile, Todd Phillips – crew chief on Sato’s car last year, and a former member of the legendary but now defunct Newman/Haas Racing team – is set to become Alexander Rossi’s crew chief at Arrow McLaren SP.
