KV Racing - Lotus IndyCar
Lotus IndyCar Racing news and discussion
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BIRMINGHAM -- Takuma Sato was born in Tokyo, lives in Monaco and spent so much time in England that you can often hear the tone of a lock-jawed British butler mingling with his Japanese accent. He has even been appointed a "Goodwill Ambassador" between the United Kingdom and Japan. Now, for the second time in his 33 years, he finds himself in the Deep South of the United States and immersing himself in still another new culture. "I think," Sato said, "I'm going to have barbecue tonight." Sato's more daunting culture change: Formula One to IndyCar. He's driving the No. 5 Lotus KV Racing Technology car in Sunday's IndyCar Grand Prix of A…
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On the positive side, Takuma Sato has at last had an IndyCar race that he finished without serious delay. On the negative side, Long Beach was by far the least competitive display this season for the KV Racing Technology team, and the Japanese ex-Formula 1 star could manage only a disappointing 18th position around the Californian streets. After showing top-six form the previous weekend at Alabama’s Barber Motorsports Park, Sato was buoyant on the trip west to Long Beach. “I was confident and more comfortable in the car,” he said. “We were all upbeat and the team was very excited coming to Long Beach.” But there wasn’t much excitement in Friday practice,…
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Takuma Sato's debut on the iconic Long Beach street course did not run to plan, with the IZOD IndyCar Series rookie seeing his hopes of a solid result hit - quite literally - by another driver's inattention. Sato was unable to improve more than one place on his 19th starting position, despite initially making moves up the order, after his #5 Lotus-KVRT Dallara-Honda was collected by Dale Coyne Racing's Alex Lloyd, causing the Japanese ace to spin. Although he was able to return to the fray, and continued to take the chequered flag, he was a lap down on winner Ryan Hunter-Reay. “It was a tough weekend," Taku admitted, "After qualifying Saturday, we made…
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LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 18, 2010) — Mario Moraes hadn’t sat in IndyCar for nearly five months during the winter, but the 21-year-old Brazilian is now showing that the break might have been beneficial. Moraes, the youngest full-time driver on the IZOD IndyCar Series at age 21, turned in a spectacular drive Sunday in the 36th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach when he drove his No. 32 KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara/Firestone car from 15th to sixth in the 85-lap feature event. Moraes, who rejoined KVRT at the season opener in Sao Paulo, Brazil, didn’t have any pre-season testing with the team but has proven to be a contender following his i…
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Young Moraes Tops The Team’s Effort In 15th Spot LONG BEACH, Calif. — For the first time in the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series, KV Racing Technology failed to advance the second round of qualifications Saturday in the streets of Long Beach. The trio of Mario Moraes, E.J. Viso and Takuma Sato looked primed to move to the second level in qualifying when late session heroics by Alex Tagliani, Ryan Briscoe and Marco Andretti bumped the KVRT drivers from the top 12 in preparation for the 36th running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Moraes drove his No. 32 KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara/Firestone car into the top six early in qu…
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For the first time in the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series, the entire KV Racing Technology team failed to advance the second round of qualifying, struggling in a competitive session on the streets of Long Beach. The trio of Takuma Sato, Mario Moraes and EJ Viso looked primed to move to the second phase when late session heroics by Alex Tagliani, Ryan Briscoe and Marco Andretti bumped them from the top twelve in preparation for the 36th running of the Toyota Grand Prix. Sato, making his Long Beach debut at the wheel of the #5 Lotus-KVRT Dallara-Honda, eventually finished 19th, with a lap clocked at 100.209mph and will line up on the inside of row ten for round four of the…
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While Formula One made many visits to the fabled Long Beach street circuit, none of them were during Takuma Sato's spell in the top flight and, as a consequence, the Japanese ace spent day one of his first visit to the Californian track learning his way around. Despite his inexperience, Taku posted times that kept him in the top ten for much of practice, before the #5 Lotus-KV Racing Technology entry was shuffled back to 13th by late improvements from some of his rivals. Sato's best time was a 1min 11.385secs effort to put him comfortably mid-pack in the sizeable IndyCar field. “Long Beach is a special event but, for me, it is one of the new circuits, so I have to…
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LONG BEACH, Calif. — Young Mario Moraes turned in several impressive laps Friday in practice sessions for the 36th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the fourth round of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series. Moraes, the 21-year-old Brazilian, drove the No. 32 KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara/Firestone machine to one of only eight times under the 71-second barrier on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn circuit through the streets on the Southern California seaside city. The youngest full-time driver in the series recorded the eighth quickest lap of the day with a time of one minute, 10.964 seconds. Ryan Hunter Reay set the best time Friday with a 1:10.634 clocking. …
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IndyCar championship leader Will Power topped yet another session as he led the way in opening practice in Long Beach this morning. The Australian has a fine record at the track, having won the Champ Car finale there in 2008 and started from pole last year. As the session settled following some frenetic late place-swapping that saw a Ganassi one-two swiftly become a Penske one-two-three, Power emerged on top by 0.1005 seconds over his Penske team-mate Helio Castroneves, another former Long Beach winner. Ganassi's Scott Dixon denied Penske a top three sweep by pushing Ryan Briscoe back to fourth late on, with Dario Franchitti fifth in the second Ganassi car. …
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Long-time Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach enthusiasts will get a glimpse of the past this weekend when the KV Racing Technology team hits the famed streets of the seaside city with its Lotus-liveried IndyCar. The squad brings some history of Long Beach as Formula One veteran and IZOD IndyCar Series rookie Takuma Sato drives the #5 Dallara-Honda in the 36th edition of the 'Long Beach Street Party', as Lotus has a rich history on the famed circuit. Despite Sato's green-and-yellow livery not appearing in Long Beach, the British marque was victorious there with IndyCar legend Mario Andretti in 1977, a year before the American drove the #5 John Player-backed Lotus to t…
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LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 14, 2010) — Longtime Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach enthusiasts will get a glimpse of the past this weekend when the KV Racing Technology team hits the famed streets of the seaside city. The KVRT squad brings back some history of Long Beach when Formula One veteran and IZOD IndyCar Series rookie Takuma Sato drives the No. 5 Lotus—KVRT Honda/Dalllara/Firestone machine on April 16-18 in the 36th edition of the “ Long Beach Street Party.” Sato, a podium finisher in the U.S. Grand Prix in 2004, comes to Long Beach for the first time, but his sponsor has a rich history on the famed street circuit. The Lotus car has…
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What a disappointment. Takuma Sato showed front-running pace in qualifying, and in the race too, but through no fault of his own the IndyCar Series race at Barber Motorsports Park ended with the Japanese driver at the bottom of the results sheet, owing to the loss of 22 laps due to a throttle failure. The scenic road circuit in Alabama was the only track on this year's IndyCar schedule that Sato already knew, owing to his earlier test at the venue with the KV Racing Technology team. "I knew we were going to be much more comfortable than in the first two races," he said, "although the test was held in record cold conditions. Now in contrast it was going to b…
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Takuma Sato looked to be in position to challenge for a top five finish in front of more than 40,000 spectators at round three of the IZOD IndyCar Series before running into mechanical problems at Barber Motorsport Park in Alabama. The Japanese ace looked to be very competitive after making the Firestone Fast Six in qualifying on Saturday, and waged a tremendous battle with past IndyCar Series champions Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan in the opening part of the 90-lap race. However, a throttle part failure on the #5 Lotus-KVRT Dallara-Honda left him stranded on the track on lap eleven, forcing a full-course caution. After receiving a tow back to the pi…
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Helio Castroneves took his first victory since Texas last June as he played a canny fuel strategy game to win the IndyCar Series' inaugural round at Barber Motorsports Park. Ganassi's Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti followed the same two-stop plan to complete the podium, while Will Power's run of wins came to an end as his choice of three stops left him fourth for Penske. But the race could easily have seen Marco Andretti win for the first time in nearly four years, as he led for much of the distance before his fuel conservation bid failed and he had to make a late pitstop, dropping him to fifth. With passing extremely difficult at the undulating Alabama…
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Only in his third race in the IZOD IndyCar Series, rookie Takumo Sato proved Saturday that he will be a top contender in Sunday’s inaugural 75-lap Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at the sensational Barber Motorsports Park. Sato, driving the No. 5 Lotus-KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara/Firestone car, made the prestigious Firestone Fast Six qualifying final Saturday and will start sixth in the 25-car field on the 2.38-mile 17-turn road circuit east of Birmingham. Sato, a Formula One veteran, was impressive in the first two qualifying sessions before the 10-minute Fast Six Final run for the pole position. In the first 20-minute …
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