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Takuma Sato, b. January 28, 1977, is a
Japanese
automobile racing driver.
Unusually, Takuma (Taku) has very little racing experience in his
native country. Although he began his karting career in Japan, Sato moved
to England in 1998 to persue a career in European racing. Through 1998 and
1999 he raced in Junior Formula races in England and Europe, moving to the
British
Formula 3 championship at the end of 1999. In 2000 and 2001 he persued
full seasons in British Formula 3, finishing 3rd in 2000 and 1st in 2001,
winning 16 races in the two years, plus international races at
Spa-Francorchamps,
Zandvoort, and
Macau.
In 2002 Taku graduated to
Formula One, aided by backing from
Honda to get a ride with
Jordan. In Formula One he proved to be fast but extremely erratic, his
low point being a tremendous crash at
Monaco which destroyed both his car and that of his teammate.
In 2003 Sato moved to
British American Racing (BAR) as a test driver, but drove the final
race of the season at
Suzuka in place of
Jacques Villeneuve. In 2004 Sato will drive full-time for BAR.
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