Sato Supreme in St. Petersburg Qualifying
• Honda drivers claim five of top eight starting positions
• First race of 2014 season takes place on Sunday

A.J. Foyt Racing’s Takuma Sato claimed the first pole of the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series season, taking command of the final “Fast Six” knockout qualifying session and prevailing in a day filled with rapidly changing weather conditions after a series of mid-day showers soaked the 1.8-mile Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg temporary street circuit.Andretti

Autosport teammates Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti qualified third and sixth, respectively, while yet another Andrettti driver, Carlos Munoz qualified seventh to lead the four rookie drivers in the 22-car starting field.  The opening round in the 18-race 2014 season, and the first featuring the new Honda HI14RTT twin-turbo V6 engine, starts at 3 p.m. Sunday, with live television coverage on ABC.

Takuma Sato (#14 ABC Building Supply A.J. Foyt Racing Honda) pole qualifier, his 4th career IndyCar pole and 1st in St. Petersburg:  “It’s a fantastic day for us, you could not ask for a better start to the season.  A.J. [Foyt, team owner] is very happy and you all know how difficult that is [to achieve]!  We completed an extensive winter test program, for the first time, and I think that is helping us better achieve our true potential.  I think tomorrow is going to be an exciting race, with many possible winners.  But if we do our job as good as possible, hopefully