The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team has publicly defended their driver Takuma Sato in the wake of criticism stemming f♛rไom the five-car crash on the opening lap of the ABC Supply 500 at the Pocono Raceway.

Heading into Turn 2 of the 2.5-mile superspeedway, the driver of the No. 30 Mi-Jack Honda made contact with Alexander Rossi which swept up fellow Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay and eventually collected Fe✃lix Rosenqvist and James Hinchcliffe. Rosenqvist briefly rode the catch fencing while Sato ended upside ꧋down.

All drivers walked away without major injuries.

The incident took place at the same location one year ago where Robert Wickens was left ꦺparalyzed from the waist dow🌜n.

Rossi called the move “disgraceful” while the Japanese driver apologized for the accident but wanted to analyze all of the data before𒀰 making a judgement.

The Indianapolis-based team released the following stat🉐ement and posted an onboard on social media showing the accident:

“Following the events on Lap 1 of Sunday’s INDYCAR race at Pocono Raceway, we are relieved that all drivers emerged unhurt from the crash. Normally in a situation of this nature it is not necessary for a team to comment but following the accusations levied at Takuma Sato, and after reviewing Takuma’s onboard data and camera, we feel that a clarification is necessary.  The data and video clearly shows that Takuma did not turn down the track into Alexander in this incident and in fact the first steering wheel movement made by Takuma was to the right, as 💃he tried to correct his car after the initial contact. 

We stand behind our drivers and have absolute🅘 faith in their a🦩bility to race and perform at the highest level for RLL.

— Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (@RLLracing)