[/media-credit]Milwaukee, WI (Saturday, June 18, 2012) – After a lengthy rain delay, the Milwaukee IndyFest started well for Simona De Silvestro and the Lotus HVM Racing team. The #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car started 23rd on the grid and had some over-steer issues early on. De Silvestro made some adjustments in the car and settled into a good race pace.De Silvestro was running 22nd when she entered the pits on lap 59. The team made tire and wing adjustments before re-entering the track. Just 8 laps later De Silvestro got into the marbles and brushed the wall in turn 3. De Silvestro was taken to the infield care center where she was examined and released.
As she left the care center she had this to say, “I just made a mistake. TK (Tony Kanaan) passed me and Oriol (Servia) tried to tuck behind him, and I just got in the marbles. It’s just unfortunate. Sometimes you make mistakes; that’s what happens.”
The team was hopeful that the damage was minor and could be repaired, but unfortunately once the car was returned to the garage it was determined that there wasn’t enough time to make repairs and return to the race.
De Silvestro felt bad for the team. “It’s pretty unfortunate,” she said. “I made a bit of a mistake and ended up in the marbles and put an end to our day. It’s a shame because I think we had a pretty good race car. I want to thank the team. I’m really sorry to have put them in this situation. It would have been nice to have finished the race and learn. But, I guess I learned a lot because I made a mistake that I’m not going to do again next time.”
With the changes De Silvestro and the team made, the car was running at a strong pace for what looked to be a good finish. While not happy with the end result, Team Owner Keith Wiggins was happy with the pace. “That was a shame,” he said, “because once we settled in the pace was actually quite respectable compared to certainly the middle of the pack and even some of the front runners. It looked like going into our second stint that we’d have a decent result. It’s always hard when you’ve got lots of traffic around you.”
Shane Seneviratne, team manager, was equally happy with the way the race was going before the contact in turn 3. “It looked like it was going to turn out to be a good race,” he said. “Simona had good pace. Her car was a little over-steering in the beginning, but she made some adjustments in the car giving her a good car. At the first pit stop we made a few more adjustments. She was running a good pace, but unfortunately we got caught out when Kanaan went by us; we got into the grey and she brushed the wall.”
The team now heads to Newton, Iowa for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 next Saturday, June 23. The race will air on NBC Sports Network at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
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 Lotus Racing.
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.
Source: Lotus HVM Racing, Press Release
