Lotus HVM Racing Disappointed At St. Pete
St. Petersburg, FL (Sunday, March 25, 2012) - With high hopes going into today's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the Nuclear Clean Air Energy Lotus HVM Racing #78 team suffered a setback when the car stalled on track early in the race. Unable to restart the car in pit lane, the team pushed the car to the garage, working frantically to fix the issue and get driver Simona De Silvestro back into the race. Unfortunately, they weren't able to get back out prior to the cut off of 15 laps to go.
After working so hard to get ready for the race, the disappointment was intense throughout the team, but especially for De Silvestro whose excitement level was high going into today's race. "I'm pretty disappointed with not finishing the race," she said. "We improved the car for the race and we were doing ok lap times. We just have to keep working hard for the next race and I think we'll get there."
Team Manger Shane Seneviratne, while dissatisfied with the result, looked at the positives the weekend offered the team and addressed the issue that ended their day early. "We've learned a lot," he said. "We haven't had much testing, so this whole race weekend was an opportunity to learn about the engine package. We made it through all the sessions without any problems. Unfortunately, we had an issue in the race that resulted in a loss of fuel and oil pressure. Now we just have to focus on the next race and try to do our best at Barber."
Echoing Seneviratne was Team Owner Keith Wiggins who said, "Obviously the main focus was to be reliable and build from there, so it's disappointing that we weren't able to finish the race. On a good note saw some other Lotus cars make some good progress. We have to build on that and keep working hard for the next race."
The team hosted guests from Nuclear Clean Air Energy sponsors Entergy, Areva, Holtec, WTS and Rev 1, as well as a large group from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Guests packed the stands behind the team's pit box cheering boisterously for De Silvestro and continued to enjoy the excitement of the race even after the Nuclear Clean Air Energy car was retired.
The team, sponsors and Simona's fans are now looking forward to next weekend's race at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. Tune in when the race airs Sunday, April 1 at 2:00 p.m. ET on NBC Sports.
About HVM Racing
HVM Racing was founded by Keith Wiggins and is based in Indianapolis, Indiana. HVM enters 2011 as its tenth year of competition since forming in 2001 and has earned six victories, two pole positions, and an additional 16 podiums. They earned "Indianapolis Rookie of the Year" honors with driver Simona De Silvestro at the 2010 event and since joining the IZOD INDYCAR Series in 2008, the team has earned nine top-10 finishes. 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. Follow HVM Racing at www.hvmracing.com, on twitter at www.twitter.com/HVMracing, and on facebook at www.facebook.com/HVMRacing.
HVM Racing was founded by Keith Wiggins and is based in Indianapolis, Indiana. HVM enters 2011 as its tenth year of competition since forming in 2001 and has earned six victories, two pole positions, and an additional 16 podiums. They earned "Indianapolis Rookie of the Year" honors with driver Simona De Silvestro at the 2010 event and since joining the IZOD INDYCAR Series in 2008, the team has earned nine top-10 finishes. 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. Follow HVM Racing at www.hvmracing.com, on twitter at www.twitter.com/HVMracing, and on facebook at www.facebook.com/HVMRacing.
About Lotus
For further details on Lotus Motorsport and Group Lotus please visit our dedicated media site www.lotusnewera.com using the following details:
For further details on Lotus Motorsport and Group Lotus please visit our dedicated media site www.lotusnewera.com using the following details:
User name: media
Password: lotus
Password: lotus
Group Lotus plc, is based in Norfolk, UK, and has three operating divisions: Lotus Cars, Lotus Engineering and Lotus Motorsport.
Lotus Cars builds world class, high performance sports cars including the award-winning Evora, the iconic Elise and the stunning Exige and the road / track orientated 2-Eleven. Lotus New Era, the future product line-up, was unveiled in Paris on 30th September 2010 featuring the new Esprit, Elan, Elite, Elise and Eterne.
Lotus Engineering provides comprehensive and versatile consultancy services to many of the world's OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers and is an internationally recognised automotive engineering consultancy. Global facilities include those in the US, Malaysia, China and offices in Germany and Japan. Lotus is a global high-tech company, committed to driving forward technology for both Lotus Cars and its Engineering clients, spearheading research into such areas as hybrids, electric vehicles and renewable fuels.
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 has also returned to F1 with Lotus Renault GP from the start of the 2011 F1 racing season onwards.
For more information about Group Lotus please contact:
PR Department, Group Lotus plc, Potash Lane, Hethel, Norfolk, UK, NR14 8EZ
Tel: +44 (0)1953 608264 Email: pr@lotuscars.com
PR Department, Group Lotus plc, Potash Lane, Hethel, Norfolk, UK, NR14 8EZ
Tel: +44 (0)1953 608264 Email: pr@lotuscars.com
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. Follow at www.NuclearCleanAirEnergy.com and www.entergy-nuclear.com; on Twitter at www.twitter.com/EntergyNuclear and www.twitter/NuclearCleanAir, and on facebook at www.facebook.com/Nuclear Clean Air Energy.
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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. Follow at www.NuclearCleanAirEnergy.com and www.entergy-nuclear.com; on Twitter at www.twitter.com/EntergyNuclear and www.twitter/NuclearCleanAir, and on facebook at www.facebook.com/Nuclear Clean Air Energy.