Lotus HVM Racing Better at Barber
Leeds, AL (Sunday, April 1, 2012) - Timing and scoring doesn't give you the true story of the highs and lows Lotus HVM Racing experienced at today's Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. With a disappointing 21st place start, driver Simona De Silvestro was aggressive from the start.
After losing a spot early, De Silvestro settled in and drove a strong race, making several passes on track to gain positions. At one point the Swiss driver had climbed up to 17th place.
"I'm pretty happy we finished the race. I think it's good for the team," De Silvestro said. "We had a pretty solid car actually. Tire run was really good; tires didn't fall off too much. The good thing is that we finished and we can go to Long Beach with what we learned from this. We had a couple of boo-boos and a bad timed yellow, which didn't help us, but I think we had a solid car and drove pretty well. We really just have to take the positive out of this weekend and go even better next weekend."
While those errors in the pushing the fuel window and then a yellow caution cost her, she never gave up. She pushed hard and passed Tony Kanaan with less than 10 laps to go for position. She was still gaining on the cars in front of her when the checkered flag dropped and would likely have moved past a couple of other cars if she'd only had a few more laps.
Team owner Keith Wiggins was disappointed with the final outcome feeling that the team missed a chance to finish well. "It's good to get to the end," he said, "but it's a bit disappointing not to do as well as what we could have. We didn't take advantage of what we had and the yellow went against us: we just missed some opportunities."
One of those missed opportunities was late in the race when the team pitted just prior to a yellow flag. Had they been able to stay out another lap, the day would have ended better. Unfortunately, De Silvestro was low on fuel and actually ran out just as she was entering pit lane for her third stop. Luckily, she made it to her pit box limiting her losses.
Team Manager Shane Seneviratne wants the team to learn from their mistakes and build on the progress made here at Barber. "First I'd like to congratulate Team Penske and Will Power for a great job," he said. "The IndyCar series has done a great job with the new car my hat's off to them. As a team I think we made some progress. We finished the race. I'd like to thank Lotus for the progress. We're just going to keep building from here on. I think we'll have a much better result in Long Beach."
While it wasn't the result hoped for, the team's guests from AREVA enjoyed their weekend at the track. Making progress throughout the weekend, the team expects to continue moving forward in two weeks when the IZOD IndyCar Series hits the streets of Long Beach. The race will air April 15, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Network.
Photos can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/75530607@N07/sets/72157629716104409/ or IndyCarMedia.com.
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.