IZOD IndyCar Driver Simona De Silvestro Celebrates Her Birthday in Baltimore
Baltimore, MD (September 1, 2012) - Driver of the #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car, Simona De Silvestro, celebrated her birthday today at the Grand Prix of Baltimore. The 24-year-old Swiss driver was quick this morning in the wet and was hoping for a birthday present of rain for qualifying.
De Silvestro was in the middle of her quickest lap when Graham Rahal crashed bringing out a red-flag and ending the team's hope for the opportunity to move into the second round of qualifying for the first time this season.
"We just didn't get a clear lap in," De Silvestro said. "It's pretty frustrating because I had a really good lap going when the red flag came out. It would have been good enough to qualify in the top 12 and good enough to get us into the next round. But, that's racing and now we just have to focus on the race tomorrow."
HVM Racing considers Baltimore their home-away-from-home. The team held their 2012 season launch here at the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Hotel in February and is entertaining a large contingent of sponsors from the area this weekend including Entergy, AREVA, NEI, WTS, Rev 1 and the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Hotel.
Team owner, Keith Wiggins was disappointed with qualifying, but feels the team still has a chance for a good result tomorrow. "I hate to say it again," he said, "but obviously we're really disappointed this time because it's Baltimore. We knew we could do a good job but for the sake of a red flag. To have been able to record a twelfth-place would have at least given us some feel of pride with the handicap that we have. We still have our 10-grid penalty for the engine, but at least we would have felt better about it. But, at the end of the day it won't change much where we will end up on the grid. We still have the same job to do tomorrow. We know we have a fast car and a fast driver, so we need to just plan for a really good strategy."
Shane Seneviratne, HVM Racing team manager, was pragmatic about the qualifying session. "We had a good car and a lot of potential," he said. "Unfortunately the session was red-flagged with Rahal's crash which caught us out. We were on a good lap when that happened and if we'd have had the opportunity to finish that lap we would have qualified in the middle of the pack and even advanced to the next session. It's unfortunate; I think we have a good race car. We just need to look forward to tomorrow. "
The Grand Prix of Baltimore airs live on NBC Sports Network at 2:30 p.m. ET.
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
Group Lotus plc, is based in Norfolk, UK, and has three operating divisions: Lotus Cars, Lotus Engineering and Lotus Motorsport.
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.