The Finale of a Difficult Season for Lotus HVM Racing

Fontana, CA (Saturday, September 15, 2012) - Tonight saw the end of a very difficult season for Simona De Silvestro and the Lotus HVM Racing team. De Silvestro struggled with over-boost issues on the engine of her #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car from the start of the race.

We had over-boost issues right away and started to work on it," said Tom Brown the team's technical director. "It's an issue that plagued us all weekend. We had no pulling power and that was not a good situation to be in at this track."

Keith Wiggins, team owner, felt the situation with the engine was not something the team could safely overcome. "The engine had issues with over-boost making it difficult to maintain pace in traffic," he said. "We felt it better to come in and not affect the outcome of the race. We were pretty sure that we couldn't go the distance so it made no sense for us to put Simona in a situation that could get her or one of the other competitors into trouble."

This has been De Silvestro's most difficult season with tonight's finale indicative of what she and the team have had to struggle with. "It was a frustrating season, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," she said. "We worked really hard to get the car ready and hoped that we would be competitive. I feel bad for the team. They worked crazy hours replacing two engines this weekend and it would have been nice to have been able to finish the season on a high note. We've learned a lot this season and have to take that into what we expect to be a much better year next year."

Shane Seneviratne, team manager, reflected on the season. "It's a disappointing end to a disappointing season, but that's what it is. We just have to look forward to next year. A big thanks to the hard work and dedication of the HVM Racing crew. They kept on working hard despite all the problems we've had throughout the year. I sincerely want to thank them for all their hard work, Simona for hanging in there, and our sponsors and fans for all their support."

The team will take a few days off before moving their focus toward the 2013 IZOD IndyCar season. Simona and the team would truly like to thank their fans for the outpouring of support this season.

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.

About 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

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.