Lotus Has Best Performance Since Joining Izod Indycar Series

VISO SCORES TWO TOP-10 FINISHES, KANAAN AND SATO EACH EARN

A FIFTH PLACE FINISH IN FIRESTONE TWIN 275s

FT. WORTH, TEXAS – JUNE 12, 2011 – KV Racing Technology – Lotus had its strongest performance since joining the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2008 last night in both the Firestone Twin 275s at Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth, Texas. 

The Firestone Twin 275s consisted of two races last night each running 114 laps with half the normal championship points awarded in each race.  E. J. Viso, #59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus scored two top-10 finishes placing seventh in race No. 1 and 10th in race No. 2 on the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway tri-oval.  Teammate Tony Kanaan, #82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, was 11th and fifth respectively.  Takuma Sato, #5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, the third of the KVRT – Lotus drivers, finished fifth and 12th.  All three KVRT – Lotus drivers contested two races at night for the first time.

Viso started 19th in the first race, but was on the move from the drop of the green flag.  Showing determination, but also driving a smart race, he quickly made his way through the field picking up 12 positions to earn his first top-10 finish of the 2011 season.

For the second race, the field was gridded based on a draw with each driver turning a Firestone tire to see his grid position.  Viso ended up 29th out of the 30 cars.  Undaunted, he proceeded to repeat his performance in the first race and charged through the field.  By the end of the event he had improved an additional 19 positions (an incredible total of 31 for the night), led his first laps of the season and earned his second top-20 finish.

“I am pretty happy with the result last night,” Viso said.  “It was great to finish in the top-10 in both races especially coming from so far behind (19th and 29th).  I want to thank my team, it has been a rough start to the season, but we always knew that we had the potential and finally I was able to repay them with a good finish.  In the second race it was tough starting in the last row, but I was able to gain 19 places and it was a lot of fun out there.  With the race being shorter than normal though, it was hard to catch the guys up front.  I am looking forward to Milwaukee next weekend.  I think we will also be fast there.  It’s a short and fun place where a lot of car control is needed.  Once again thanks to all my sponsors, especially PDVSA and my crew for all their hard work.”

Viso made his fourth appearance and contested his fourth and fifth race in Texas last night.  Prior to then his best showing in Texas was an 11th place finish last year (his oval best finish is a third at Iowa last season).  With last night’s performance, the 26-year-old Venezuelan may have finally shaken the bad luck that has plagued his 2011 season.   He has now had three strong finishes in the last four races having placed 13th in Brazil to go with last night’s strong showings.  Viso earned 13 points in the first race and 10 in the second for a total of 23 points.  Although he remains in 20th place in the standings, he is only 20 points out of 10th place.

Kanaan started a season high sixth in the first race, but handling problems soon saw him drop to 10th place.  Always the fighter, Kanaan continued to battle and managed a solid showing in the first race.

During the halftime drawing for grid position, fortune smiled as Kanaan drew the pole position for the first race.  Never one to waste an opportunity he held the lead for the first 38 laps, also his first of the 2011 season, before dropping to second.  Kanaan settled into fifth place shortly after the fIrst pit stop and while he was unable to challenge the leaders he fought a very smart, strong race the remainder of the way.

“We got lucky with the draw for race two,” Kanaan admitted.”  After race one I knew that we knew I didn't quite have the speed of some of the other guys.  We changed the car quite a bit between races and I liked the changes we made...the only problem is that everyone else had time to make changes too.  But hey, anytime you get out of Texas in one piece it's a good race...and we are still fifth in the championship race, so we'll take it,” he said.

Kanaan made his 10th and 11th starts at TMS (IndyCar ran two races here in 2003 and 2004 one in June and one in October) giving him 138 consecutive IZOD IndyCar starts (139 total career IndyCar races) which ties him with Scott Sharp for the series record (all-time record for consecutive starts is held by KVRT – Lotus co-owner Jimmy Vasser with 211).  The 36-year-old Brazilian, who is in his 14th U. S. based open-wheel season and 10th in the IndyCar Series, has finished in the top-10 in all but two races here in Texas with seven top-five showings including five podiums with one win, in June of 2004.  Kanaan has had a very impressive start to the 2011 season.  He has finished in the top-10 in five of the first seven races (counting two races in Texas) with three top-five showings and a podium performance (third at St. Petersburg).  Kanaan earned 24 points last night, tied for the team high, but dropped one place in the standings and now sits fifth in the championship race with 159 points.  He is just 10 points out of third.

Sato started an IZOD IndyCar career oval high fourth for the first of the twin 275s and drove the best oval race of his career.  He was never lower than sixth the entire race and got as high as third.  He showed patience and the ability to attach and defend at the appropriate time.  The fifth place finish was a also an IZOD IndyCar career oval high for Sato and tied his IndyCar career best finish which he first achieved at the 2011 season opener in St. Petersburg..

In the second race, Sato, like Viso, was a victim of the draw picking the 25th staring spot.  Never-the-less, with his confidence high from the fifth place finish in race one, Sato slowly but surely worked his way through the field and by the half way point of the second race was sitting in 12th place.  Despite several furious battles he managed to hold station through the remainder of the contest and earned his second consecutive solid oval finish.

Commenting on the race Sato said, “I want to thank the entire KVRT – Lotus team.  It was a great weekend and we achieved a strong result.  The first race was solid.  The balance was not great at the start of the race and I lost some positions, but I gained them back later, which was exciting.  The second race was really crazy.  I started from the back of the pack, but I got through.  It was difficult to gain many positions because there were no cautions, but .I enjoyed having to fight back.  I had a couple of moments while battling other cars, but I am very pleased. with where we finished today.

Sato, who contested just his 23rd and 24th IndyCar races and 10th and 11th on an oval last night, made his second and third starts at TMS.  Prior to then the 34-year-old from Japan had a  best oval finish of 12th at Motegi last year.  Last year in his TMS debut in 2010, qualifying 11th, but a mechanical failure ended his race and he finished 25th.  Sato has opened the 2011 season strong.  In addition to last night’s fifth and 12th place finishes, his highlights this year include the fifth at St. Petersburg and an eighth place performance at Brazil where he earned the Firestone Tire-ific Award for his pass of Will Power for the lead and then leading 23 laps (his first in an Indy car) before he was forced to pit for a splash of fuel.  Sato earned a total of 24 points tonight and picked up four places in the standings moving him back into the top-10 in 10th.

This is the first time the IZOD IndyCar Series has run two races on the same day however it is the 18th time that IndyCar have utilized the format.  The last time was during a CART sanctioned event at Atlanta in 1981.

Notes:

E.J. Viso has been nominated for the Firestone Tire-ific award for both race one and two for the incredible amount of places he picked up in both races.  Please vote for him on www.indycar.com.

Next up for KVRT – Lotus is the Milwaukee 225, June 17-19, on the Milwaukee Mile in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The race will be will be broadcast live on ABC beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET