Last-lap drama! Itsuki Sato snatches ‘lucky’ win after leaders collide for supremacy

The final race day of the Indian Racing Festival (IRF) 2025 weekend at Coimbatore’s Kari Motor Speedway turned into absolute drama on Sunday. Japan’s Itsuki Sato, who had already impressed on his Indian debut a day earlier, won the third race of the Formula 4 Indian Championship after a chaotic final lap that saw leaders Shane Chanderia and Sachel Rotge crash out.

Sato was running in third for most of the race and didn’t seem to have the pace to challenge the top two. But in the final moments, as Chanderia and Rotge got locked in a tense fight for the lead, both went off track trying to overtake each other, allowing Sato to go past and take the chequered flag. The two rivals eventually finished outside the podium, with Rotge getting disqualified.

“It was a really lucky win for me,” Sato admitted after the race. “I had no pace at all and there was no grip, it was hard to keep my position. I will have to check the data to find out the cause behind that.” Luviwe Sambudla and Ishan Madesh took the second and third spots, respectively, in F4 Race 3.

The 22-year-old Japanese driver, who took pole position in his first-ever race in India on Saturday, said he was simply trying to hold his place when the chaos unfolded ahead of him. “I was just focusing on keeping my position, but when I reached the turn end, they were both going towards the wall and I took advantage. I don’t know what was wrong with my car, there was no grip and traction. I will speak to my coach,” he said.

Shane Chanderia speaks about the final lap drama

Meanwhile, Chanderia, one of the drivers involved in the collision, explained what went wrong in the intense final lap battle. “It was bit tricky. I covered the door but he kind of went off track to cut the corner. The rule is that after three corners, you are meant to give the position back, but he didn’t,” he told Firstpost.

“He kind of let me put my nose in front, but he didn’t let me go fully through. He just pushed me off track again, and then into the corner he defended, and I knew he was not gonna give up the position. So, I went around the outside, we both locked up but he went into the side of me. It ruined both our races, but I guess that’s how racing is sometimes,” Chanderia added.

Meanwhile, Sato finished seventh in the fourth race of the F4 Indian Championship, with Ishan Madesh, Saishiva Sankaran, and Chanderia taking the top three spots. Sunday marked the end of an action-packed Round 3 of the Indian Racing Festival in Coimbatore.

More results to follow…