Category: Other Series PR

[media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”400″][/media-credit]Ft. Worth. TX (Saturday, June 09, 2012) – After strong practice and qualifying runs, Lotus HVM Racing suffers another setback at the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway. The team came to Texas full of hopes with an updated exhaust system that offered a promise of more speed and competitiveness. Unfortunately, due to a sudden fuel pressure issue, the #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car was unable to start the race.

De Silvestro was not happy to be sidelined without turning a single lap. “We have one update finally and then something like this happens, which is annoying” she said. “But that’s kind of how the whole season has been going with our program. The guys are working their butts off and we’re trying to make things happen, but we just don’t have the pieces all put together right now.”

The team, which has struggled all season, was hoping that the pieces were going to start falling into place beginning with the updates brought for this race. Unfortunately, things did not turn out that way.

Keith Wiggins, team owner, was not pleased. “I’d say that disappointing is an understatement,” he said; “devastating is more accurate. I don’t think we’ve ever not started a race before. But, we had a problem with the engine; we couldn’t get fuel pressure, so we just have to lick our wounds and move on.”

Team manager, Shane Seneviratne was equally unhappy with the day’s turn of events. “I feel bad for the team,” he said. “We had a fuel pressure problem that took us out of the race. We didn’t even get to do a single lap. We were running well in practice and qualifying; we were closing the gap. Now we just have to look forward to Milwaukee.”

Lotus HVM Racing and the IZOD IndyCar Series next head to the legendary Milwaukee Mile for a second consecutive Saturday race. The Milwaukee IndyFest airs on ABC, Saturday, June 16 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

About Lotus HVM Racing

HVM Racing was founded by Keith Wiggins and is based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The 2012 season marks its eleventh year of competition since forming in 2001. Since its inception, HVM Racing has earned six victories, two pole positions, 22 podiums, 40 top-five finishes and 97 top-tens. The team also earned “Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year” honors with current driver Simona De Silvestro in 2010. HVM finished fourth and third, respectively, in the Champ Car World Series in 2006 and 2007, and earned drivers Mario Dominguez and Robert Doornbos Rookie of the Year honors in 2002 and 2007, respectively. Lotus HVM Racing can be found online at www.hvmracing.com. Follow the team on twitter at www.twitter.com/HVMRacing and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HVMRacing.

About Lotus

Group Lotus plc, is based in Norfolk, UK, and has three operating divisions: Lotus Cars, Lotus Engineering and LotusRacing.

 

Lotus Racing (formerly Lotus Motorsport) operates the motorsports activities of Lotus and includes the strategy to return the Lotus name to a great number of series including endurance racing with GT2, GT4 and LMP2, single seater racing with GP2, GP3 and IndyCar. Lotus also competes in Formula 1 with the Lotus F1 Team,racing in the iconic Black and Gold livery.

About Entergy

Entergy is the second largest owner and operator of U.S. nuclear energy plants. They operate or provide management services to 12 reactors at 10 sites. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity and delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas , Louisiana , Mississippi and Texas . Entergy has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and more than 15,000 employees. For more information: www.entergy-nuclear.com and www.NuclearCleanAirEnergy.com; on Twitter at @NuclearCleanAir, and on facebook at www.facebook.com/NuclearCleanAirEnergy.

[media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”400″][/media-credit]FORT WORTH, Texas (June 9, 2012) – Tonight’s IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone550 at Texas Motor Speedway was Katherine Legge’s chance to get back in her No. 6 TrueCar Dragon Racing Chevrolet after having to sit out last weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. She and her Dragon Racing teammate, Sebastien Bourdais, are forced to split their upcoming races until a second Chevrolet engine lease becomes available to the team.

“I was just excited to get back on the track in my TrueCar machine and get more laps behind me,” said Legge. “It was very tough to experience Belle Isle last weekend as a spectator and not as a competitor, so I’m just happy to have been racing again this weekend. A lack of testing has been our story all year, and this weekend was no different since all the other teams had tested here and I had to do my rookie oval test before we could start the first practice.”

The UK native was allowed to take the track before her fellow drivers yesterday to complete her rookie test. Nine minutes later she was cleared by INDYCAR president of competition Beaux Barfield to compete on all ovals. That was the extent of her Texas testing program before taking on the 1.5-mile 24-degree banked oval at Texas Motor Speedway for practice and qualifying. The TrueCar Racing driver and her Dragon Racing team managed to get in 51 laps of practice before her qualifying run. Legge went on to qualify 22nd in the field, with a two-lap average of 210.543 mile per hour.

Starting near the rear of the field would yield a surprise for Legge as she was struck by debris on her helmet visor while taking the green flag. Undeterred by the blurred visor, the rookie settled into race mode until the restart on lap 40 after a single car incident involving Charlie Kimball. Underway, Legge reported that the weight jacker system would not reset, taking away her ability to adjust the balance of the car during each stint. This left her with an ill-handling racecar for the remainder of the race.

“That was one of the most difficult races I’ve ever done,” said Legge of her first race at Texas Motor Speedway. “With the weight jacker broken, I had no way of adjusting the car to control understeer. We had also made some big changes to the car overnight, but we made some big gains. We were very shy on front wing at the start of the race, so we kept adding it during pit stops. I feel like we could have been competitive near the end of the race if we had the tools inside the cockpit that I could have used to adjust the car. In the end, it was a learning experience.”

Persevering, Legge ran a clean race and her team executed pit strategies that allowed her to advance seven positions during the race. The TrueCar Racing driver ultimately finished 15th and she now heads to Milwaukee, where she led laps in the Champ Car World Series in 2006.

The Milwaukee IndyFest is June 16 and will be aired live on ABC at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

About Katherine Legge:

Birthdate: July 12, 1980
Hometown: Guildford, England
Residence: Indianapolis
Marital Status: Engaged
Website: www.katherinelegge.com
Twitter: @katherinelegge (personal) and @KatOnTrack (for on-track updates)
Facebook: katherineracing

Career Highlights

Named to drive for TrueCar-Dragon Racing in 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season … Competed in European-based DTM touring car series as factory Audi driver from 2008-10, driving for Futurecom TME, Abt Lady Power and Team Rosberg … Drove in Rolex 24 at Daytona for Robinson Racing in 2007 … Competed in Champ Car World Series in 2006-07 for PKV Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, becoming first female to lead Champ Car race … Recorded five top-10 finishes in Champ Car in 2006 … First woman to win major open-wheel race in North America, with three victories in Toyota Atlantic in 2005. Finished third in series … Earned Formula One test with Minardi in 2005 … Drove for A1 Team GB in A1 Grand Prix, tested Champ Car in 2005 … Raced limited schedule in British and North American Formula Renault championships and Can-Am championship in 2004 … Competed in limited British Formula 3 schedule in 2003 … Competed in British Formula Renault in 2001-02, wininng pole in 2002 at Oulton Park with track-record lap … Earned British Racing Drivers’ Club “Rising Stars” honor in 2002 … Became first woman to win pole in British Formula Ford Zetec championship in 2000 … Competed in karting from 1990-99.

 

About TrueCar, Inc.

TrueCar, Inc. is an online automotive information and communications platform focused on creating a better car buying experience for dealers and consumers. Consumers want a hassle-free car buying experience anddealers want high-quality sales velocity. TrueCar helps achieve these goals by providing unbiased market information on new car transactions and by supplying an online communications platform through which dealersand consumers can communicate with each other. TrueCar’s market-based information provides both consumers and dealers with an accurate and comprehensive understanding of what others actually paid recently for similar vehicles, both locally and nationally. TrueCar’s communications platform then allows informed, ready-to-buy consumers to communicate directly with participating dealers. Some of the nation’s largest and most well respected membership and service organizations rely on websites powered by TrueCar to help educate their members and customers who are in the automotive market. TrueCar is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, and has offices in San Francisco, CA, and Austin, TX. After experiencing dramatic growth since 2006, TrueCar is developing a suite of products and services centered on radical clarity through the comprehensive analysis of market data and information. TrueCar’s participating dealer partners have sold over 500,000 new vehicles to TrueCar users nationwide.

You can follow TrueCar on Twitter and become a fan of TrueCar on Facebook.

About Dragon Racing

Dragon Racing is an IndyCar Series team owned by Jay Penske, the Chairman and CEO of Penske Media Corporation (PMC). Dragon Racing began under the original banner of Luczo Dragon Racing founded by both Penske and Steve Luczo, the Chairman and CEO of Seagate Technologies. The team debuted in 2007 at the Indianapolis 500 with driver Ryan Briscoe and finished fifth. In 2009, during the team’s first complete season, it won Rookie of the Year honors with driver Raphael Matos. Dragon Racing has two entries in the IZOD IndyCar Series for 2012: Katherine Legge, the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America, and four-time Champ Car Series champion Sebastien Bourdais. Dragon Racing has operations in Indianapolis, Indiana and Los Angeles, California. For more information on Dragon Racing or its drivers please contact press@dragonracing.com.

[media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”400″][/media-credit]Andretti Autosport IZOD IndyCar Series Race Report:
Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway

James Hinchcliffe, Team GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, No. 27

Hinchcliffe led eight laps and had a strong run to finish fourth in the Firestone 550. Hinchcliffe is now third in the IZOD IndyCar Series point standings after his sixth top-10 finish in seven starts.

“It was a pretty solid day for us. You know, we had a quick car, and we could run with the leaders. We made a strategy decision halfway through the race to not take tires when some of the leaders did. In hindsight, it might not have been the best call, but we had a good enough car to run back up through the field.

“We had good Chevy power all race long. The last stint, you were really hanging onto those cars. It got so loose – it was the longest last 10 laps of my life. But huge credit to to the guys in the pits. The crew was solid and it’s good to have the Go Daddy car back in the top-five again after the disappointment at Detroit.”

Marco Andretti, Team RC Cola Chevrolet, No. 26

Andretti had one of the fastest cars throughout the evening, running among the top-five for the first half of the race until a fire enveloped the RC Cola machine after a pit stop on lap 113, and Andretti was forced to pit again. The extra stop dropped the team six laps behind the leaders. Andretti finished 17th.

“That’s a disappointing finish because we were really fast tonight. We could run with the leaders, but the carcaught fire after a stop and I had to come back in. It was out by then, but we lost a lot of laps. It’s frustrating because it was a really fast car. Now, it’s on to Milwaukee. If we can catch a break, we have the speed to win.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet, No. 28

Hunter-Reay made a dramatic charge in the opening stint of the race, making passes in the outside groove to move from his 13th-place starting spot into the top-five. Hunter-Reay began to suffer a loss of power, and he pulled into the pits on lap 66 with terminal issues. Hunter-Reay finished 21st.

“I don’t know what happened. It just lost power – slowly but surely, we were losing power. It’s unfortunate. We had a really good start to the season and were really good in points, but now we’ve had some mechanical issues. It’s just so unfortunate because these DHL / Sun Drop guys work so hard. I think we had a good race car going… On new tires, I was able to make up a lot of positions on the outside. On old tires we didn’t have the best of balance. We were tuning on it, and would have been good… I think it might be time for me to cut off the facial hair. I don’t know what else to do.”

[media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”400″][/media-credit]RACE NOTES/QUOTES—- Dallas, Texas, June 9, 2012

Fast Facts:

Oriol Servia

^ Due to two cars having issues at the start, Servia started the race 11th. ^

^ The yellow came out on Lap 31 and the team brought him in on Lap 35 for a full fill of fuel and fresh Firestone Firehawk tires. The pit stop gained Servia three positions and he filtered out to P8.

^ Another caution came out on Lap 64 and Servia pitted on Lap 66 for a full fill of fuel and fresh tires. He came in P11 and filtered back out to P8. It was at that point that trouble would set in. After the Lap 70 restart Oriol started to drop back and on Lap 89 he had to come in because there was a fuel pressure problem and his day was ended early. Servia finished the race in 20th position.

^ Yesterday Servia qualified 12th for the Firestone 550 at the Texas Motor Speedway. He was 16th in line for qualifying and earned his best qualifying result ever at this track. He secured a spot on the grid with a two-lap average qualifying speed of 213.957 mph (Lap 1-214.029 mph, Lap 2-213.884 mph).

^ This weekend marked Servia’s 4th start at Texas Motor Speedway. Last year he started 14th and finished 21st in race one and in race two he started 17th and finished 15th. In 2008, he started 16th and finished 26th due to contact.
In six races, Servia has gained a total of 73 positions (7 positions in St. Pete to finish 16th, 13 positions in Barber to finish 13th, 7 positions in Long Beach to finish 16th, 12 positions in Brazil to finish 11th, 23 positions in Indianapolis to finish 4th, and 11 positions in Detroit to finish 5th).

^ The Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix marked the second top-five finish in a row for Panther DRR and Oriol Servia.

^ This year’s Indianapolis 500 marked a career-best result in the race for Oriol Servia and Panther DRR. It was the Spaniard’s fourth start and he finished the day with his best result for the race. It was the same story for the team. Last Sunday’s race was Panther DRR’s 13th start and their best result for the Indianapolis 500 race as well.

^ Servia qualified 27th for the 96th Running of the Indianapolis 500 and finished a career-best at the IMS track with a 4th place result. After a last minute stop due to a tire going down in the early part of the race, Servia went a lap down for most of the event as a result. During the last stint, Servia got his lap back and went from 18th to 4th place in 20 laps.
Valspar was the primary on the No. 22 machine this weekend. The Valspar Corporation is one of the largest global coatings manufacturers in the world, providing coatings and coating intermediates to a wide variety of customers and applications. Since 1806, Valspar has been dedicated to bringing customers the latest innovations, the finest quality, and the best customer service in the coatings industry.

^ Last year Oriol Finished fourth in IZOD IndyCar Series standings….Recorded 11 top-10 finishes, with a best of second at New Hampshire and Baltimore….Among three drivers to be running at the finish in all 17 races….. Led all drivers in laps completed (2,103 of 2,011)….Oriol was the only driver to finish in the top 10 in first five races of the season.
This weekend marked Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s 18th time to compete at the 1.5-mile oval. The team has started at least one car in every race at the track since 2000. In 2001, Robbie Buhl finished team best of 3rd in 2001. DRR has led a total of 33 laps at Texas Motor Speedway.

 

^ It was announced in May that the Indianapolis-based squad has united with two-time IndyCar Series champion Panther Racing to form a strategic alliance on Oriol Servia’s entry for the remainder of the 2012 season. The No. 22 Panther/DRR team will utilize Panther’s second Chevrolet engine lease and work in conjunction with the No. 4 National Guard team and driver JR Hildebrand.

Oriol Servia, No. 22 Panther DRR, on the race: “It’s one of those things that happen in motor racing. The Valspar car was running great and we worked really hard over night to come up with a good setup. I thought that I had a better car than anybody around me so I felt really strong for the race. We wanted to have a mistake free race and get there in the end like our style and then attack. Everything was going according to plan until I started to have a fuel pressure alarm on the steering wheel and then I started to feel it a little bit on the end of the straights. The last 15 laps and the whole lap around I was full throttle but it was rattling and it just wouldn’t carry any speed. We think that we had a fuel injector problem or something, which is rare, but it happened today. It was unfortunate because the guys did a great job, but now we move onto Milwaukee.”

Back on Track: Panther DRR will be back on track next weekend for the Milwaukee IndyFest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The race is scheduled at 1:00 pm ET. Live coverage will be on ABC and the IMS Radio Network. Please visit www.dreyerreinboldracing.com for more updates.

About Panther DRR:

Panther DRR will be entering its 13th season of full-time competition in 2012, making it one of the longest-tenured teams in IZOD IndyCar Series competition. Current Co-Owners, Dennis Reinbold and Robbie Buhl, first teamed in full-time competition at the Walt Disney World Speedway in January of 2000. With Buhl behind the wheel, the two owners tasted victory in their debut race. DRR now has over 305 starts to tuck under its belt and has qualified a total of 31 cars for the Indianapolis 500. In its history, the team has boasted a championship list of alumni drivers. Besides Buhl, the team has run Indianapolis 500 winners, Al Unser, Jr., Buddy Lazier, and Buddy Rice, along with IZOD IndyCar Series race winner, Ryan Briscoe. The team has one of the longest lines of heritage in American open-wheel racing and the Indianapolis 500 as Dennis Reinbold’s grandfather, “Pop” Dreyer, built leading roadsters that raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

[media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”400″][/media-credit]FT. WORTH (June 9, 2012) – After an extremely competitive 228-lap race, three Chevrolet IndyCar V-6 drivers scored top-five finishes and a total of five Chevy-powered cars finished in the top-eight at Texas Motor Speedway.  Ryan Briscoe brought the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet to the checkered flag in third after leading five laps in the Firestone 550 for the IZOD IndyCar Series.

James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 Team Go.Daddy.com Andretti Autosport Chevrolet, finished fourth, and was credited with leading one time for a total of eight laps. JR Hildebrand, No. 4 National GuardPanther Racing Chevrolet, had a strong drive through the field from his 23^rd starting position to finish fifth.

“Congratulations to Ryan Briscoe and Team Penske for their podium finish,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager IZOD IndyCar Series. “Chevrolet powered cars took five of the top-eight finishing positions in an exciting night race at Texas Motor Speedway under the lights. Congratulations to Andretti Autosport and Panther Racing on a great race with their drivers James Hinchcliffe and JR Hildebrand finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

“Despite a high attrition rate, none of the Chevrolet’s suffered mechanical engine failures. The issues resulting in the DNF’s (Did Not Finish) will be addressed and the Chevrolet IndyCar V-6 teams will be ready to do battle in Milwaukee next weekend.”

Helio Castroneves, No. 3 AAA Team Penske Chevrolet, recovered from a mishap on pit road that sent him deep in the running order to finish seventh.

Series’ points leader Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, led for a total of 24 laps before on-track contact with another driver forced him down pit road to serve a drive-through penalty. Power battled back to finish eighth in the final order.

The IZOD IndyCar Series moves next to The Milwaukee Mile for Milwaukee IndyFest on Saturday, June 16, 2012. The race will start at 1:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage will be provided by ABC TV.

CHEVROLET INDYCAR V-6 DRIVER QUOTES:

RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 3^RD:  “It was tough. Certainly you needed to work on the set up all night, the balance changed a lot from the beginning of this stint to the end, and man you just had to hang on. It was hard work. My car, the last two sets of tires just went off really badly in the back, so I was battling a loose car, which is hard work. I’m glad the race is over, you know, the guys put me in position to win tonight, I had the lead I just didn’t have the car to bring it home and stay in front. It’s disappointing, but I had a huge moment out there at one point tonight and I’ll take third.”

PARTIAL POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: ON HIS RACE: “It was good racing, but it was tough out there tonight. It was exactly what we asked for. No complaints. Frustrating. Any other year with the track position I was given there at the end, we would have won this thing. Unfortunately I just didn’t have enough car in that final stint to hold off Graham (Rahal) and (Justin) Wilson at the end. They did a great job. Bad luck to Graham for that tire going down I guess. They are both deserving. A bit disappointing. We got away with a big one tonight. I had a huge moment off of turn two about mid-race. I was lucky to save it. It’s a shame we don’t have an in-car camera tonight, it would have been a good one to watch. It was great. It was just really hard work out there. Unbelievably hard racing. You need to look after tires; work on the set-up all night. I would say it was fun, but it was certainly good racing.”

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 TEAM GODADDY ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 4^TH: “Pretty solid day for us. We had a quick car and could run up with the leaders early on. We made a strategy decision half-way through the race to not take tires when some of the leaders did. In hindsight, it might not have been the best call. But, at the end of the day, we had a good enough car to run back up through the field. We had good Chevy power all race long. In the last stint, you were really hanging on to those cars. It got so loose, it was the longest sort of last 10 laps of my life. But, huge credit to the guys in the pits. The GoDaddy crew was solid. To have the GoDaddy car back in the top-five after the disappointment at Detroit. Hopefully we can keep that streak back going of qualifying and finishing in the top-six.”

JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5^TH: “Starting from 23rd, going a lap down twice, we’re definitely happy to come home with a Top Five in the National Guard Chevy. This is a place where Panther has been good, so there’s always a little bit of an expectation that when we come in here we can work our way up to the front. The last few stints the car was super loose, but we were able to keep the speed up enough that we didn’t lose a lot of time or positions. And when the car was good we could hammer on it and catch up. We would have liked the car to be a little bit better at the end of those runs, but shoot man, we’re happy to take a finish like this tonight. I definitely think all the drivers like being able to drive the car – I was going full swings back and forth during a run to make the car work better, and that’s fun for us when you’re the one that makes it work and you can see the results. It’s still an engineering project, but as a driver it’s super nice to have a lot more input into what’s going on.” 

 

HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 AAA INSURANCE TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7^TH:  “What a race, the AAA machine was great. We passed a lot of cars and were able to drive through the field. Unfortunately we had a lot of vibration and lost a lot of rear wheel grip towards the end, we just couldn’t hold the top three and finished seventh. It’s upsetting because when you have a set up like that because it really gives you a great opportunity. But I will take seventh with a big smile on my face because I’ve crashed many times out there and so I’m happy we were able to finish in the top ten.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – FINISHED 8th: ON INCIDENT WITH TONY KANAAN AND THE RACE: “Yeah, I mean I had (Ryan) Briscoe on the outside of me.  Tony (Kanaan) took me by surprise. I feel bad for him because I ruined his day.  He knocked his front wing off he had to come in and change it.  I feel bad for the guy, we ruined our own day. We had one of the best cars out there, but I have to say this is the best racing I’ve ever had on an oval.  You had to lift, you had to look after your tires, you had to really drive the thing, it was moving around.  That is just the sort of racing that we need at these sort of tracks.  I think it was great.  I feel bad for my guys.  To bloody end up with a drive through I feel as though we could have quite easily won this race.  But, yep, experience.”

TONY KANAAN – NO. 11 MOUSER ELECTRONICS | GEICO – KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12^TH: “I have to thank my sponsor Mouser, this was their home race and I feel bad that I couldn’t bring home a good result.  I also want to thank my crew guys, we had a problem on the first pit stop and they managed to get it sorted and send me back out.  Will Power then did the biggest block on me ever.  We have been talking about safety and that wasn’t cool.  I did go and talk to him after the race and we talked it out.  I had a busy night, it was unfortunate that happened because I think we had a pretty good car and hopefully we put on a good race for the fans.”

ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12^TH: “It’s disappointed because we made our way to the front.  We had a vibration during a couple of stints that cost us a lot of time.  It was just a weird race.  I know we are all worried about pack racing but I prefer the way we raced at Texas before.  And I may be on an island in that sentiment.  Hopefully the fans enjoyed the race never the less.  We worked our way to the front and that we had a good chance to stay there.  Obviously, we were hoping better than 12^th tonight.  We had a little tough luck on our green flag pit stop because, about two or three laps later, the yellow came out when Scott Dixon crashed.  But that is racing. We’ll regroup and get ready for Milwaukee next week.”

KATHERINE LEGGE, NO. 6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15^TH: “That was one of the most difficult races I’ve ever done,” said Legge of her first race at Texas Motor Speedway. “With the weight jacker broken, I had no way of adjusting the car to control understeer. We had also made some big changes to the car overnight, but we made some big gains. We were very shy on front wing at the start of the race, so we kept adding it during pit stops. I feel like we could have been competitive near the end of the race if we had the tools inside the cockpit that I could have used to adjust the car. In the end, it was a learning experience.”

MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 26 TEAM RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17^TH: “That’s a disappointing finish because we were really fast tonight. We could run with the leaders, but the car caught fire after a stop and I had to come back in. It was out by then, but we lost a lot of laps. It’s frustrating because it was a really fast car. Now, it’s on to Milwaukee. If we can catch a break, we have the speed to win.”

E .J. VISO – NO. 5 CITGO | PDVSA – KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19TH: NOTE- VISO RETIRED FROM COMPETITION AFTER STOPPING ON-TRACK ON LAP 130: “We had a strong performance today.  We started with a car that was not in the best shape, however stint by stint we made it better.  By the third stop we had a pretty good car that gave me the tools to fight my way into the top-six.  At that point we had a problem that cut all the power on the car which ended my race.  I am very proud of the work my crew had been doing week after week.  Unfortunately, our results don’t reflect how strong our performance has been in every race.  We all know this a tough sport, so we have to just keep fighting and good times will come very soon.”

ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 22 PANTHER/DREYER & REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 20^th: NOTE-SERVIA RETIRED FROM COMPETITION AFTER SUFFERING A MECHANICAL ISSUE ON LAP 90: “We started to have a fuel pressure alarm on the wheel and every lap was just all of a sudden getting worse.  I was running full throttle and it just wouldn’t carry any speed.  We think we have an injector problem or something, which is rare, but it happened today. I was happy with the car.  We worked very hard yesterday and it was a good race car.  We were moving forward and just after the first stop is when we started to have issues.  Already on the restart I couldn’t accelerate well.” 

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 26 TEAM DHL/SUN DROP CITRUS SODA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21^ST: NOTE – HUNTER-REAY RETIRED FROM COMPETITION AFTER SUFFERING A MECHANICAL ISSUE ON LAP 67: “Injector problem, I don’t know just lost power.  We slowly but surely were losing power.  It’s unfortunate, it’s really unfortunate. We had a really good start to the season going, really good in points.  Now with three straight mechanical issues it’s so unfortunate.  These guys work so hard and I think we had a good race car going tonight.  I think it might be time for me to cut off the facial hair.  I don’t know what to do.”

RUBENS BARRICHELLO, NO. 8 BMC/EMBRASE KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 24^TH: NOTE – BARRICHELLO FAILED TO START THE RACE DUE TO A MECHANICAL ISSUE

About Chevrolet: 

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 140 countries and selling more than 4 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature spirited performance, expressive design and high quality. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

[media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”400″][/media-credit]Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday, June 9, 2012 – Texas Motor Speedway proved too tough to tame for many IZOD IndyCar Series veterans in the Firestone 550, but rookie driver Josef Newgarden kept his head above water and brought his car home to a 13th-place finish.

Newgarden’s No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman RacingDallara/Honda/Firestone car started from the 25th position due to an engine swap that prohibited him from making a qualifying attempt.

With a quick jump on the green flag, Newgarden passed Katherine Legge and James Jakes on lap one. Unfortunately, stability issues became apparent shortly into the run.

On lap 62 Newgarden and SFHR went one lap down to then-leader Scott Dixon. However, a caution period caused by a single-car crash involving Charlie Kimball just two laps later enabled Newgarden to win his lap back.

Following more adjustments from his SFHR crew, Newgarden began reeling in cars in front of him. He was unable to hold off the hard-charging leader Dixon, however, and went one-lap down for a second time.

On lap 138 Newgarden entered pit lane with heavy traffic for service from the SFHR crew. He overshot his pit box, which prevented Helio Castroneves from entering his own pit. INDYCAR race control issued a drive through penalty for the No. 67 car, which he served on lap 140.

After the penalty Newgarden found himself two laps down, which he was unable to earn back.

Newgarden rallied with consistent laps and brought his car home in 13th.

“I think this was a very difficult track for all of us to race on tonight,” Newgarden said. “It was difficult for us to get a grasp on things tonight, but we finished the race, which was great.”

The Firestone 550 proved to be a long race that tested Newgarden’s patience as a rookie, but he is eager to press on with his team.

“The fact that we were able to finish the race shows how hard SFHR worked as a team,” he said. “We’re going to continue to work hard and our time will come eventually.”

Justin Wilson snuck by Graham Rahal, who tapped the wall whileleading in the closing laps of the race, to win the Firestone 550. Rahal finished in second place, which made the Firestone 550 the third race in a row where Honda-powered cars finished first and second.

Ryan Briscoe, James Hinchcliffe and JR Hildebrand rounded out the top five finishers.

Scott Dixon led the most laps of the race (133). There were nine lead changes and the race was slowed by 32 caution laps.

The IZOD IndyCar Series returns to action June 16 for the Milwaukee IndyFest. The race will be broadcast live on ABC at 1 p.m. ET.

DATE:  June 9, 2012
EVENT: Firestone 550
SERIES:  IZOD IndyCar Series
LOCATION:  Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile, 24-degree banked oval)
START/FINISH: 25th/13th (Running, Completed 226 of 228 laps)
WINNER: Justin Wilson of Dale Coyne Racing

[media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”400″][/media-credit]FORT WORTH, Texas, Saturday, June 9, 2012 – Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports driver Simon Pagenaud fell in love Saturday night in Texas.

The IZOD IndyCar Series rookie had his first date with Texas Motor Speedway, and he is now smitten with racing on the high banks in Fort Worth.

Driving the No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Dallara/Honda/Firestone car, Pagenaud finished sixth after starting ninth in the Firestone 550.

“Man, I actually enjoyed it, though I didn’t think I would that much,” said Pagenaud as he sat on the wall of his pit box with a Texas-sized grin. “But once I got the hang of it, I had a really, really good race car. It was blindingly fast. It was fun.”

Pagenaud had such a good race car, he made two passes during the race around the outside of the car he was overtaking. It’s not a common pass in oval racing, especially entering Turn 1 of Texas Motor Speedway.

“I love the high side when it works,” said Pagenaud. “It’s cool. I was very comfortable in Turn 1. But, we had to tune the car to do it because I didn’t have the grip to run high early in the race.”

The sixth-place finish didn’t come easy for the Frenchman. Twice, he went down a lap to the leaders and he also was issued a drive-through penalty after hitting his own right-rear tire entering the pits during his first stop.

“Unfortunately, I made a big mistake in the pits early, which cost us a lot,” said Pagenaud. “Otherwise, maybe, we could fight for the win. The car was that good. But, I’m catching on. I learned a lot tonight. I made some goodpasses. Hats off to the guys. We didn’t start the weekend off that good, but they gave me a really, really, really fast car which allowed me to race well.”

Dale Coyne Racing’s Justin Wilson won the Firestone 550 by 1.5942 seconds over Ganassi Racing’s Graham Rahal. Wilson made the winning pass when Rahal brushed the wall in Turn 4 on lap 226 of the 228-lap race.

Wilson led two times for a total of 11 laps. The Firestone 550 is Wilson’s seventh Indy car career win, and his first oval win. It is just the second win for Dale Coyne Racing.

Rahal’s second-place finish was his best finish of 2012. His previous best finish at Texas was ninth in 2011.

The race was slowed by four caution flags for a total of 32 yellow-flag laps. One accident was a single-car crash by Scott Dixon, who won last week in Detroit. Despite making heavy contact with the Turn 4 SAFER Barrier, Dixon climbed from his car.

Penske Racing’s Ryan Briscoe finished third, which is his best finish of 2012. Andretti Autosport’s James Hinchcliffe finished fourth while Panther Racing’s JR Hildebrand rounded out the top five.

 

With an eighth-place finish, Will Power maintains his lead in the IZOD IndyCar Series championship with 256 points. Dixon is second with 222, while James Hinchcliffe is third with 208. Helio Castroneves is fourth with 203, while Pagenaud is fifth with 199.

So far in 2012, there have been 838 laps of racing in the IZOD IndyCar Series. Pagenaud has completed the most laps of all drivers this year. He and the HP team have completed 837 of the 838 possible laps of competition to date.

The next IZOD IndyCar Series event is the 225-lap Milwaukee IndyFest race at State Fair Park in Milwaukee, Wis. on June 15.

DATE: June 9, 2012
EVENT: Firestone 550
SERIES: IZOD IndyCar Series
LOCATION: Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile, tri-oval)
START/FINISH: 9^th/6^th (Running, Completed 228 of 228 laps)
WINNER: Justin Wilson of Dale Coyne Racing

[media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”400″][/media-credit]FT. WORTH June 9, 2012—After a strong qualifying run and an even stronger final practice in which he was second fastest, Mike Conway had every reason to believe that the ABC Supply Hondawould take him to the front in the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night.

Unfortunately, the opposite turned out to be the case.

Qualifying eighth but starting 18^th due to a grid penalty for an unscheduled engine change, Conway started to drop back right at the start of the race which saw A.J. Foyt serve as Grand Marshal. Conway and the ABC Supply team struggled with an unpredictable car the entire evening.

When the car was rolled back into the garage after the race, they figured out why. A stay on the underwing had broken probably in the beginning of the race which caused the under pressure on the car to shift from the front to the rear depending on where the car was on the track.

“It would explain why the things we did during the pit stops didn’t affect the car’s handling the way it should have,” said team owner A.J. Foyt.

When Conway picked up six spots on his first pit stop at lap 36 under caution, going from 17^th to 11^th, it appeared the ABC Supply team was back in business. But when the green flag dropped, so did Conway. Within 15 laps he was back to 17^th which became the scenario for the night. Gains made on pit stops were lost on the track. Conway also pitted six times to the leaders’ four times, plus half of those stops were under green. He ended up four laps down in 16^th place. He remains 19^th in the standings.

“It was a really long night,” Conway said immediately after the race.  “I thought we’d have a good car after yesterday but it was a real handful from the start. A lot of understeer and we put more front wing into it and then the circuit changed, we had a problem with the weight jacker (it didn’t work), and the car got really loose. I had some big moments and so I had to come in (under green) and they took out front wing. It got better but the car kept picking up front grip even though we were taking wing out. Just trying to hang on and count down the laps. Really wanted a good result here but it just wasn’t to be.”

Justin Wilson won the event, giving Dale Coyne his second IndyCar victory. It was the first time for both Wilson and Coyne to win on an oval track. Second through fifth were Graham Rahal, Ryan Briscoe, James Hinchcliffe and J.R. Hildebrand.

The ABC Supply team is testing in Iowa on Tuesday along with 18 other IZOD IndyCar teams. Following the test, everyone heads to Milwaukee for the Milwaukee IndyFest on Saturday aftenoon the day before Father’s Day. The race will be broadcast live by ABC-TV, starting at 1 p.m. ET.

[media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”400″][/media-credit]FT. WORTH, Tx. – June 9, 2012 – Despite extremely strong performances by Tony Kanaan and E. J. Viso, KV Racing Technology had a very frustrating Firestone 550 on the 1.5-mile D-shaped Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Tony Kanaan, behind the wheel of  the No. 11 MOUSERELECTRONICS | GEICO – KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Firestone car was running in third place when he was hit by Will Power late in the race damaging his front wing.  He finished 11^th.  E. J. Viso piloted the No. 5 CITGO | PDVSA – KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Firestone machine from 15^th on the grid into the top-six and was poised for his best finish of the season when his car suddenly lost power because of non-team related component failure.  He placed 19^th.   Rubens Barrichello, in the No. 8 BMC | EMBRASE – KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Firestone entry, never even got off the starting grid also because of a non-team related part failure and finished 24^th.

Kanaan started seventh and was running in seventh when he pitted for the first time.  Unfortunately, the air jack failed and when the team resorted to a manual jack the front wing was damaged.  The team got him back out without losing a lap and then re-pitted to finish the stop.  At that point Kanaan had dropped to 21^stplace, but he responded and marched through the field getting back to eighth place.  During his second stop he again pitted twice the first time to repair the air jack and fuel the car, the second to put on tires.  Again, he did not lose a lap, but dropped back to 16^th place.  For the second time he fought his way back through the field working his way into fourth place.  He moved into third place with a little over 50 laps remaining where he remained until lap 188 when he attempted to pass Will Power for second place.  At that point, Power blatantly moved over to block and severely damaged Kanaan’s right front wing.  Kanaan pitted for repairs, his eighth of the race, and when he rejoined the race was in 12^th place and a lap down.  Power was assessed a drive through penalty for his actions.

“I have to thank my sponsor Mouser, this was their home race and I feel bad that I couldn’t bring home a good result, Kanaan said.  “I also want to thank my crew guys, we had a problem on the first pit stop and they managed to get it sorted and send me back out.  Will Power then did the biggest block on me ever.  We have been talking about safety and that wasn’t cool.  I did go and talk to him after the race and we talked it out.  I had a busy night, it was unfortunate that happened because I think we had a pretty good car and hopefully we put on a good race for the fans.”

Kanaan made his 13^th appearance at TMS today.  He has finished in the top-10 nine times including a remarkable seven top-five showings with a win in 2004 (second in 2003 race No. 1; 2004 race No. 2 and 2007).  Kanaan hasearned three top-six finishes in the first seven races this season (sixth in Detroit, third at Indy, fourth at Long Beach).  The 37-year old Brazilian earned 19 points today and remains ninth in the championship race with 160points.

Viso contested his sixth race at TMS.  The 27-year-old Venezuelan qualified 16^th, but started 15^th after Mike Conway was penalized for an unauthorized motor change.  Viso patiently, but steadily worked his way through the field and after getting three outstanding pit stops from his crew was running in sixth place at the halfway mark of the 228-lap race.  Viso was clearly having his best race of the season and in line for his best finish, when his car lost power on lap 129 when a non-team related component failed.  The mileage limit on the component was slated to last the season.

 

“We had a strong performance today,” Viso said.  We started with a car that was not in the best shape, however stint by stint we made it better.  By the third stop we had a pretty good car that gave me the tools to fight my way into the top-six.  At that point we had a problem that cut all the power on the car which ended my race.  I am very proud of the work my crew had been doing week after week.  Unfortunately, our results don’t reflect how strong our performance has been in every race.  We all know this is a tough sport, so we have to just keep fighting and good times will come very soon.”

In six races at TMS, Viso has a best finish of seventh in race No. 1 last year (placed 10^th in race No. 2).

This is the first race he has not finished this year earning two top-10 finishes in the first seven races (eighth at St. Petersburg and 10^th at Brazil).  Viso scored 12 points today and is 16^th in the standings with 118 points.

Barrichello, a veteran of 19 Formula One seasons, contested just his second oval race and first at TMS.  He qualified 14^th, but started 13^th due to the Conway penalty.  When the command was given to start the race, his engine failed to fire leaving him alone on the grid when the rest of the field pulled away.  His crew feverishly worked to get the car started but were unable to.  After 10 laps were completed the team rolled the car back to the garage ending Barrichello’s day. Even more frustrating was the fact that 30 minutes prior to the race, the team performed a systems check which went flawlessly.

Barrichello, who finished the first five races of the season, has had two consecutive DNFs (did not finish) both due to problems beyond the team or his control..  He opened the season with a 17^th place finish in his IndyCar debut at St. Petersburg, but then followed up with  three consecutive top-10 performances (Barber, eighth;Long Beach, ninth; Brazil, 10^th) and an 11^th place finish in his Indy 500 debut, which earned him the Chase Rookie of the Year honors.  At Detroit he also had a non-team related component fail which ending his race on lap 11 and then today he never got off the starting grid.  The 40-year-old Brazilian scored six points and is now 17^th in the championship standings with 118 points. 

Next up for KVRT is the Milwaukee IndyFest, June 15-16, on the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin.   The race will be broadcast live on ABC Sports Network starting at 1:00 p.m. ET.

KV Racing Technology was founded in January 2003 and joined the IndyCar Series in 2008.  The Indianapolis based team is owned by successful venture capitalist Kevin Kalkhoven and 1996 IndyCar Champion Jimmy Vasser.  Veteran Motorsports manager, Mark Johnson, is the team’s General Manager.  Johnson is assisted by Team Manager Tom Wurtz, Technical Director Eric Cowdin and Operations Manager Steve Moore.

For more information about KV Racing Technology visit: www.kvracingtechnology.com or follow us on Twitter:www.twitter.com/kvracing and Facebook: www.facebook.com/kvracingtechnology