INDYCAR: Sato looks to carry momentum to May

The early stages of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season have been a perfect fit for the A.J. Foyt Racing team and driver Takuma Sato. So far, the Japanese pilot's knack for street courses have resulted in a pair of top-6 finishes and vaulted his No. 14 ABC Supply Honda to sixth in the championship standings - best among the brand's 11 drivers.

Dating back to his first and only win for Foyt at Long Beach in 2013, Sato and the team tend to record their best performances on temporary courses; his two most recent podiums were earned on the streets of Sao Paulo in 2013 and last year in Detroit which, team manager Larry Foyt admits, is more of a happy coincidence than a championship strategy.

"I don't know that there's one easy answer as to why we're good on the street courses," Foyt told RACER. "We had some struggles last weekend; we unloaded great, but then we struggled in second and third practice. We weren't super happy, but then Takuma did a great job in qualifying in eighth and then finishing fifth was really strong. I think we have a good starting street course package and Takuma has a good feel of what he wants on those types of tracks, so it just works."

This weekend's race marks Sato's seventh visit to Alabama's Barber Motorsports Park, and from his six prior results - three with Foyt and three with other teams - the 39-year-old's best finish is 13th. Foyt would like nothing more than to see Sato improve that number and strengthen his place in the standings before the series shifts to Indianapolis in May.

"We're really hopeful for Barber because we've struggled more on permanent road circuits," he continued. "That's been more of a focus for us so we can make that better. Over the winter, and as we've grown to two cars, we've really tried to build and become more engineering-based and build our own [simulation] programs to be better at every track.

"We want to make the team stronger, and it's been a great start for Takuma so far and Long Beach was the best we've had so far. What we're trying to do between now and the [Indy] 500 is keep that momentum going in our favor."