“It feels like a victory”, said Sebastien Bourdais (# 7 Lotus Dragon Racing) with a trembling voice, as he stepped out of the car at the end of the race. Bourdais, who drove one of the most exciting races of his career, added “I am so happy for the guys on my team. They worked so hard to give me a good car. The Lotus car was awesome. It was so dialed in. Jay Penske put a great team together, and I am so happy to be reunited again with my engineer, Craig Hampson. I can’t thank my team enough. The motor is better but not where we want to be. We were conservative on power, but we were able to hold the pace and take good care of the tyres while other teams killed their tyres. It’s what allowed us to move up from the 17th position. All in all, this was a great day for the Dragon Racing Team and for Lotus. This brings back good memories of the days when I was winning races.”

Bourdais’ teammate, Katherine Legge (#6, Dragon Racing) finished 23rd: “We were basically testing today during the race, with tyre pressures, bar settings, and different things. Because we were testing, we were on a different strategy than everyone else. We were having to move over [to allow others to pass] and so we were getting into the marbles, which ultimately led to my spin,” recalled the IndyCar rookie.

Team owner Jay Penske beamed with pride when asked about what positives exist in this development phase. “I should show you the section times. In the corners and twisty sections, we are fast. And so far, we have had no mechanical failures on the car,” said Penske. “It’s really a sign of what a great job the team has done building these cars and basically doing development out of the trucks at the races.”

Despite having very limited track time this weekend, Oriol Servia (#22 Lotus DRR) finished 13th after starting from 26th place. As he crossed the start/finish line at the end of the race, Oriol came over the radio to the guys saying, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Great job guys, we will keep getting there." After getting out of the car, he said: “We were as good as anyone in the corners for sure, and that's what helped me move to the front. We had good lap speed, a good strategy, pitted early and put good laps together and passed a couple of cars, which is an odyssey with the lack of speed that we have on a straight line. I know it's 13th place, but it feels like a podium."

Simona De Silvestro (#78 – Lotus HVM Racing) drove a strong race, making several passes on track to gain positions. At one point the Swiss driver had climbed up to 17th place. She was pretty satisfied with her day, despite some problems with the pit stops. ” We had a couple of boo-boos in the pits 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.”

For Alex Tagliani (#98 BHA Lotus Team Barracuda), the race started and ended on lap one, due to engine failure. "We took the green flag, went into turn one and the engine just died," said Tagliani. "It seems to be a pretty heavy mechanical failure from what I understand. What's sad is that we didn't get to use our red tyres this weekend - we saved them all for the race and we didn't even have the chance to try one set of them this weekend."

Claudio Berro, Director of Lotus Racing was elated with today’s results. “First, I want to congratulate the Lotus drivers and their teams for doing such a great job this weekend. Congratulations to Sebastien for his ninth spot finish, to Oriol for moving up the field so well, to Simona for putting in a great drive, to Katherine for being patient and putting in all the laps, and to all four Lotus teams for finding really good setups and for their hard work and perseverance. However, we feel very badly for Alex Tagliani and would like to apologize to him and the BHA Team.” He added, “Lotus will continue to push the engineers to make the engines better. We will keep working hard and push for good results.”

In two weeks, the Lotus teams head to the west coast for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The 85-lap competition will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network at 3:30 p.m. ET.

“From practice to qualifying, we made some improvements. After St. Pete, we had to change our engine and we now have a ten-position penalty on the grid. In qualifying today, we decided not to use reds. Red tires here are a huge advantage in speed and lap time, but we decided to use the qualifying time as another practice session instead.

“For tomorrow’s race, we’re going to try as best we can to use a strategy that will pay off. Running on red tires in the race will make us leapfrog some cars, get some position and have a good result.”

Quote from Bryan Herta, Team Owner:

“For us, qualifying just became an opportunity to run another practice session on the track. We knew we had a ten grid-place penalty, so we just concentrated on continuing to do some race work with the car. We feel like we made some improvements and hopefully tomorrow that will show in the race.”

In this afternoon’s practice, the cars ran in the pouring rain and thunder. Sebastien Bourdais (#7 Lotus Dragon Racing) was second fastest in that session with a time of 1:19.2 behind Takuma Sato (# 15 – Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) who ran at 1:18.8. Only 18 cars, out of 26 went out on track for that practice and most of them only ran a few laps before calling it a day. All five Lotus drivers braved the rain and tried to get in as many laps as possible. At the end of the session, the highest finishing Lotus driver, Bourdais, was very satisfied with the car’s performance on the wet. “I am really happy with the way the car was behaving in the rain. I had so much grip this afternoon. I don’t think we changed anything from this morning. The car was really good. I was having fun out there.”

Heading into the week, Alex Tagliani (# 98 Lotus BHA) was not feeling well but was still looking forward to a good weekend in Alabama. When he left St. Petersburg on Sunday, he was diagnosed with Influenza A-B. These past few days he’s been taking measures to feel better and hopes to be back to 100 percent by race time on Sunday.

"Barber is going to be another test for us this weekend. I like the track quite a bit - it's intense and very difficult with high-speed corners and it's just a pretty fast track. Unfortunately, we had to change our engine after the race in St. Petersburg, so we'll be starting ten places behind our qualifying position this weekend. Also, some of the other teams have tested here in the off-

season, so there's a little bit of an advantage, but we'll continue to evolve with the car and do the best we can."

Despite bad weather conditions, Lotus HVM Racing’s Simona De Silvestro was pleased with her day. She ran in 10th position in her # 78 machine, during this afternoon’s wet practice, and didn’t seem to mind the rain at all.

“I think it was a positive day, she said. We started off with a pretty strong setup. We’re going to do a couple of changes for tomorrow that I think are going to go in the right direction. We just have to keep working hard. I think we have a lot of work on the engine side more than on the car side right now, so we have to really focus on that and hope for a good qualifying tomorrow.”

Oriol Servia (#22 – Lotus DRR) only ran 7 laps in today's first practice session. There was an electrical problem and the Lotus DRR crew had to fix the issue, and as a result Servia was unable to get back out. He clocked the 23rd quickest time of the day, with a time of 1:13.4.

"I'm a little disheartened because the one place that I kept saying since day one, that I wanted to spend some time testing was here and Sonoma. They are two very technical tracks and very important to find a good setup for the car and for the driver. You need lots of laps here. We didn't come testing and we had a little bit of bad luck today. We had an electrical issue in the first practice and only got one run in. During the second session we had a problem with the motor and didn't get to run much. We'll see what tomorrow brings and I'm sure we'll do the best job that we can."

The combined results from today’s practices placed Sebastien Bourdais in 16th position holding on to this morning’s practice times (1:12.2), followed by Simona de Silvestro (20th), Alex Tagliani (22nd), Oriol Servia (23rd), and Katherine Legge (26th). Overall, the fastest IndyCar driver on track today was Will Power (#12 Team Penske), last year’s race winner at Barber, followed by Helio Castroneves (#3 Team Penske) and Takuma Sato (#15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) to round up top three.

Track:

Circuit length: 2.38-mile permanent road course

17 turns

Race distance: 214.2 miles

Broadcast Information
Qualifying Broadcast: Saturday, March 31 at 4 p.m. ET on NBC Sports

Network (taped)
Race broadcast (TV): Sunday, April 1 at 2 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network (90 laps) (214.2 miles)


Race broadcast (radio): IMS Radio Network, XM 94 or Sirius 212

The team made consistent improvements throughout the race weekend, leading up to Saturday’s qualifying effort, where Tagliani earned P17 on the starting grid. On Sunday, the Canadian driver completed 100 incident-free laps in the Series’ brand-new Dallara DW12 chassis and finished higher than all the other Lotus-powered cars in the competition.

“I’m very proud of Team Barracuda – BHA, and I want to thank Barracuda and Bowers & Wilkins,” said Tagliani. “After a very limited testing schedule, we came here aiming for the best we could do. The guys did very well. We had a fair amount of problems this weekend, especially with the electronics in pit lane. It was fun to be out there fighting with some good cars at times, though.

Some of the other teams have an advantage on us at the moment and we know that, but our race pace was fairly good. At some stage in the race, we were matching leader’s pace, but we are still working with Lotus to get the engine program where we all want it to be. With the group of guys and the engineer we have, we should’ve been a top five car today. We have some issues and unfortunately the team is paying the price, but we will fight every lap.”

In one week, the IZOD IndyCar Series heads to Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama will take place at 2 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on NBC Sports.

Results:

Pos Driver Team/Car Gap

1. Helio Castroneves – Penske DW12-Chevrolet

2. Scott Dixon – Ganassi DW12-Honda + 5.5292s

3. Ryan Hunter-Reay – Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 7.5824s

4. James Hinchcliffe – Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 10.6526s

5. Ryan Briscoe – Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 11.7854s

6. Simon Pagenaud- Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda + 31.2623s

7. Will Power – Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 34.6582s

8. EJ Viso – KV DW12-Chevrolet + 35.5943s

9. Charlie Kimball – Ganassi DW12-Honda + 43.1425s

10. Justin Wilson – Dale Coyne DW12-Honda + 44.3141s

11. Josef Newgarden – Fisher Hartman DW12-Honda + 44.8275s

12. Graham Rahal – Ganassi DW12-Honda + 45.1080s

13. Dario Franchitti – Ganassi DW12-Honda + 45.8468s

14. Marco Andretti – Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 1 lap

15. Alex Tagliani – Herta DW12-Lotus + 1 lap

16. Oriol Servia – Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus + 1 lap

17. Rubens Barrichello – KV DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps

18. Ed Carpenter – Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps

Did not finish:

JR Hildebrand – Panther DW12-Chevrolet 95 laps

Mike Conway – Foyt DW12-Honda 74 laps

Sebastien Bourdais – Dragon DW12-Lotus 72 laps

Takuma Sato – Rahal DW12-Honda 72 laps

Katherine Legge – Dragon DW12-Lotus 58 laps

Simona de Silvestro – HVM DW12-Lotus 21 laps

Tony Kanaan – KV DW12-Chevrolet 20 laps

James Jakes – Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 18 laps

“We expected to do better than we did today in qualifying,” said Claudio Berro, Director of Lotus Racing. “There were no engine problems, but maybe we were too conservative on the way we prepared for this first qualifying. We need more testing to better understand the car. I know it’s frustrating for the drivers. Tomorrow’s race will be very interesting, with the times being so close. Strategy, pit stops, accidents, all of these will play a big role in the outcome of the race. We’re looking forward to doing a lot of testing afterwards.”

Alex Tagliani (# 98, Lotus BHA) was the highest qualifying Lotus-powered driver with a time of 1:02.6506, placing him 17th on the starting grid. He was pretty pleased with his overall performance. "The qualifying position is obviously not what we wanted, but we're the fastest of the Lotus teams. The Lotus BHA crew is doing a great job with all of the things we're trying. Right now, our focus will be on the race tomorrow and hopefully we can continue to make improvements so that we can move up through the field."

As for Lotus HVM Racing, after a great practice Friday afternoon, the team experienced a bit of a setback Saturday when the #78 driver Simona De Silvestro got stuck in traffic during qualifying. Unable to get a clean lap, De Silvestro will start tomorrow's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the outside of row 11. Clearly disappointed, De Silvestro said, "I think qualifying could have gone a little bit better. We struggled a bit with traffic, so we'll have a long race tomorrow starting from the back. But we'll keep fighting to go forward."

De Silvestro was the fastest of the Lotus-engined teams in yesterday's practice and the team had high hopes for a good qualifying run and strong starting position on tomorrow's grid.

HVM Team Manager Shane Seneviratne is still optimistic about tomorrow's race. "We didn't have the best qualifying session with the traffic, but I think we have a decent car to race with tomorrow. The team's done a great job. The engine side of things is picking up progress. We're looking forward to having a good race tomorrow.

Oriol Servia (#22, Lotus DRR) qualified 23rd for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. He clocked a lap time of 1:02.8771. "We're really disappointed. We knew that we didn't have the speed to challenge up front, but we definitely thought that we would be higher up. Again, it's the first race and we know that we lacked some testing and it's a new car. The important thing for tomorrow is to finish. For the first few events it's important to get points and that's what we are going to do."

Both drivers from Lotus Dragon Racing, Katherine Legge (#6) and Sebastien Bourdais (#7) will start respectively from 25th and 26th positions. Katherine had a bit of a mishap during the session, tapped the wall, and came into the pits for a nose change. "Certainly not the result we wanted, but overall, I am still happy with the progress we've made. We still haven't had much time in the car, so progress is so important right now to keep the team motivated. The team have done a fabulous job in such a short time. We are looking forward to continuing that progress tomorrow and I am excited to finally realize my dream to drive in the INDYCAR Series."

Sebastien Bourdais thought he may have over-driven his car this afternoon after doing well in this morning’s session. “I had a very good feeling with the car this morning, and we didn’t touch anything. We just put the options on, made a mess of it, and overdrove it. I felt good about the car overall and just don’t know what happened. For some reason, we just lost all stability, we lost grip. The car was pretty good on standard tires, and it just went away.”

The pole sitter is Will Power (Team Penske, Chevrolet), while reigning champion Dario Franchitti (Target Chip Ganassi, Honda) had a lackluster first qualifying of the year, starting 10th.

RACE:

Sunday, March 25, 2012 (will be telecast live on ABC)

Pre-race: 12h30

Local start time: 13h00

Number of laps: 100

HVM Racing's partner, InterContinental Harbor Court Baltimore, played host for the announcement and unveiling, while HVM Racing's pilot Simona De Silvestro and her crew lit up Light Street, directly in front of the InterContinental, with a pit stop demonstration. Euromotorcars Lotus of Bethesda had several Lotus cars on display in the courtyard of the hotel.

HVM Racing partners with Lotus Racing for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series and will compete under the name Lotus HVM Racing. Lotus engines will power multiple teams in the IZOD IndyCar Series and are being built with the assistance of John Judd's Engine Developments Ltd. firm. Lotus Racing operates the motorsports activities of Lotus and returns the Lotus name to a great number of series in addition to the IZOD IndyCar Series, including a return to Formula 1 with Lotus GP.

Entergy Nuclear and the Nuclear Clean Air Energy sponsorship begin their second season with Lotus HVM Racing. Entergy is the second largest producer of nuclear electricity in the U.S. and sponsor for the Nuclear Clean Air Energy national education initiative. The goal of the initiative is to broaden awareness of the benefits of safe, clean, affordable and reliable nuclear energy. The #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy IndyCar brings national and global visibility to the initiative. Other elements of the educational effort includes Power Path, a curriculum for middle and high schools; promotion of educational events during National Nuclear Science Week; and relationships with national organizations that promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics to students with a focus on careers in the sciences. www.NuclearCleanAirEnergy.com

Living Classrooms Foundation was also present at the event to acknowledge the successful efforts of HVM Racing and their partners in raising funds for the foundation and its initiatives. Living Classrooms Foundation is a Baltimore-Washington based non-profit educational organization with a distinctive competency in experiential learning-literally learning by direct experience. For more information about the foundation, visit www.livingclassrooms.org.

INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard and Baltimore Grand Prix promoter Dale Dillon also spoke at the event. The IZOD IndyCar Series will return to the streets of Baltimore Labor Day weekend, September 2, 2012. Continue to check www.IndyCar.com for more announcements on this and all other IZOD IndyCar Series events.

Joining Entergy Nuclear CEO John Herron in attendance at the event, were leadership from team partners Areva, Holtec, Rev1, and Wachs Technical Services.

the team will be powered by the new Chevrolet IndyCar V-6 racing engine for the 2012 IZOD

IndyCar Series season.

KV Racing Technology was founded in January 2003 and joined the IndyCar Series in 2008.

The Indianapolis based team is owned by successful venture capitalist and former JDS Uniphase

President, CEO and Chairman Kevin Kalkhoven and 1996 CART Indy Car World Series

Champion Jimmy Vasser.

“I am very pleased to announce that KV Racing Technology has reached an agreement to compete with Chevrolet power during the 2012 IndyCar season,” said KVRT co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven. “Chevy has a proven history of innovation and success in motorsports and we look forward to continuing that legacy.”

Vasser, who owns a Chevrolet dealership in Napa, California, competed with a Chevy engine for the first two years of his illustrious career and captured his first career podium with Chevy power placing third at Phoenix in 1993. Commenting on today’s announcement Vasser said, “I am very excited Chevrolet is returning to IndyCar racing and that we will have the opportunity to work with them. I have a long personal history with Chevrolet. My first car was a 1969 Camaro, my first podium was with a Chevy engine in 1993 at Phoenix and, I am proud to say, that I am a Chevy dealer. We look forward to a very successful relationship with Chevrolet for many years to come.”

“We are pleased to welcome KV Racing Technology to Team Chevy for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series," said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President for Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. "The team puts a high value on advanced technology, as does Chevrolet with its IndyCar engine program that uses key technologies from our production engines. Jimmy Vasser was already part of our extended family as a Chevrolet dealer, and like our company co-founder, Louis Chevrolet, his roots run deep in racing. We're delighted to have Jimmy, Kevin Kalkhoven, and the entire KV Racing Technology organization as part of our IndyCar racing program."

Chevrolet, a leader in motorsports for 100 years, has totaled 104 IndyCar wins, including six series championships and seven Indy 500 victories. The 2012 Chevrolet IndyCar V06 will have an aluminum block and cylinder heads, direct injection and twin turbochargers. The engine will also be a fully stressed chassis member supporting the gearbox and rear suspension

The incident was triggered at Turn 2 when light contact between James Hinchcliffe and Wade Cunningham sent the latter spinning across the track, causing a chain reaction. Several cars were launched into the air as they t-boned stricken rivals. With full fuel tanks, some cars erupted in flames, including Wheldon’s. KV Racing Technology-Lotus drivers EJ Viso and James Jakes’ cars were just two of the 15 cars involved in the accident.

Tony Kanaan had been on pole position that afternoon – KVRT-Lotus’ third of the year – and held that position up until the moment the race was red flagged. He therefore led a tribute procession later in the day, once Wheldon’s passing had been communicated. All the remaining cars drove five slow laps of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in front of a silent standing ovation as a bagpiper played ‘Danny Boy’.

Kanaan later wrote on Twitter: "No words to describe the pain. See you on the other side my dear friend. You will be missed."

"The entire KV Racing Technology - Lotus organization extends its heartfelt condolences to the Wheldon family on this very sad occasion,” stated the team. “Dan was a great champion and friend, a loving husband and father. He will be deeply missed."

Sunday’s 2011 season ending IZOD IndyCar World Championships

on the 1.5-mile D-shaped Las Vegas Speedway oval in Las Vegas,

Nevada.  Teammate Takuma Sato qualified 16th while E. J. Viso

was penalized and will start 31st.

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus qualified

with a two-lap average speed of 222.078 mph.  This was the 15th

pole of Kanaan’s 14 year career and 11th in the IndyCar Series. 

It is his first earned pole since June 27, 2008 at Richmond

International Raceway.  Kanaan sat on the pole earlier this year

in Texas No. 2, but that was by virtue of a draw.

“It feels awesome,” Kanaan said. “It has been awhile.  I guess I’ve

got to do more Ironmans on my weekends off.  I’m extremely happy. 

I can’t thank the GEICO – KV - Lotus guys enough.  We had such an

awful race at Kentucky that we needed to turn it around.  They went

back to the shop to massage that car as much as they could and it

paid off.”

Today’s pole is the third for KVRT – Lotus this season (fourth

including Texas No. 2) and fifth in team history not counting Will

Power’s pole at the Surfers Paradise exhibition race in 2008.

Sato, No. 5 MGM Grand – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, qualified

with a speed of 220.627 mph.  He will grid on the outside of

row eight.

“First of all congratulations to Tony, it’s great to see the speed from

his pole run,” Sato said.  “I think in general we improved from the

last race and are back on the pace, but we still need a little more

speed for my car.  As close as everyone is here we will have very

tight racing and hopefully, we can have a strong result.”

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA - KV Racing Technology – Lotus, had a mechanical issue during yesterday’s practice that placed his engine outside the Manufacturer’s guidelines resulting in an unapproved engine change.  As a penalty he was not allowed to make a qualifying attempt and will start in the 31st position.

Commenting on his situation Viso said, “Well here we go the last race of the season.  Unfortunately I will start at the back of the grid because we had to do an engine change which was considered unapproved under the rules.  I am not really concerned where we start.  We have done this many times in the past, coming from the back to the front of the field.  It is actually very exciting.  I think we have one of those good race cars like we have had in the past on the mile and a half ovals.  Hopefully, we can bring home a great result so we can close the season on a good note.  I also, want to congratulate my teammate Tony Kanaan for taking the pole for this race.”

Kanaan has now qualified in the top-six five times with the one pole in seven races on ovals this year (not counting Texas No.2) including season-high thirds in New Hampshire and Iowa.  The 36-year-old Brazilian is currently fifth in the championship race with 366 points and trying to become the first KVRT driver to finish in the top-five in the final standings.  In seven oval events this year (counting Texas as two races) Kanaan has earned three top-five finishes with one podium (a season-high second at Iowa, four at the Indy 500 and fifth at Texas race No. 2) and led 97 laps (Texas No. 2-39, Milwaukee-33 and Iowa-25). 

Sato has qualified in the top-10 in five of seven oval events (not counting Texas No. 2) with three top-five starting spots and one pole (Iowa), his IndyCar career first making him the first Japanese driver to do this.  The 34-year-old, currently 13th in the standings with 297 points, only 17 out of 10th, is looking to have a strong race Sunday and finish in the top-10 in the standings in just his second IndyCar season.  On ovals, Sato has earned three top-10 finishes (oval career-high fifth at Texas race No. 1, seventh at New Hampshire and an eighth at Milwaukee) and captured his first career IndyCar pole and led his first oval laps, seven, at Iowa (also led 13 laps at New Hampshire).

Viso has not qualified well on ovals this year other than in Milwaukee where he started an oval career-high sixth.  However he has had some very strong performances in the races, even though his final results don’t always show it.  The 26-year-old Venezuelan,18th in the standings with 241 points, has finished in the top-10 four times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second plus road-course season-high ninths at Toronto and Sonoma.  The talented Venezuelan has led two laps on an oval this year both in Texas race two.

Although all three KVRT – Lotus drivers are making their first appearance at Las Vegas Speedway the team has been competitive on ovals this year. The team has now qualified in the top-10 a total of 12 times including seven top-five starting positions and two poles in seven oval events (not counting Texas race No. 2 where Kanaan got the pole by virtue of a draw). In the seven oval races contested so far this year, counting Texas as two starts, KVRT – Lotus has finished in the top-10 eight times, including four top-five showings and one podium performance (Kanaan, second in Iowa).  The team has earned one pole and led laps at Texas, Milwaukee, Iowa and New Hampshire.

Practice was split in two groups today   Sato ran in the first group while Kanaan and Viso were in the second.  Kanaan had the fastest lap for KVRT – Lotus and the fastest of either session with a speed of 224.196 mph (24.7926 seconds).  Viso was fifth overall with a lap of 223.184 mph (24.9050 seconds) with Sato 28th at 221.304 mph (25.1166 seconds).

The season ending IZOD IndyCar World Championships will be run Sunday, October 16.  The race will be broadcast live on October 16 on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Although all three KVRT – Lotus drivers will be making their first appearance on the 1.5-mile D-shaped oval, the team has been exceptionally competitive on ovals this year.  In the seven oval races contested this year, counting Texas as two starts, KVRT – Lotus has finished in the top-10 eight times, including four top-five showings and one podium performance. The team has earned one pole and led laps at Texas, Milwaukee, Iowa and New Hampshire.

Tony Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, currently fifth in the championship race with 366 points, is having his best season in three years and is looking to become the first KVRT driver to finish in the top-five in the standings.  Team co-owner Jimmy Vasser holds the team’s season high finish placing sixth in the standings in 2005.  Kanaan leads KVRT – Lotus with nine top-10 finishes including seven top-five showings and three podiums (second at Iowa, thirds at St. Petersburg and Baltimore).  In six oval events this year the 36-year-old Brazilian has earned three top-five finishes with one podium (Indy 500, fourth; Texas race No. 2, fifth and Iowa, second) and led 97 laps (Texas No. 2 , 39, Milwaukee, 33 and Iowa, 25). 

"I'm excited to go to Vegas for the season finale,” Kanaan said. “Although I've never raced there I have been to the track in the past for some sponsor commitments and I think it's the perfect place for the championship race.  IndyCar did a great job promoting this weekend and I'm confident that we'll have a good race for our fans.  Everyone at the GEICO - KV - Lotus team worked hard all year and I want to reward them by having a good race and securing the 5th spot in the championship."

Takuma Sato, No. 5 MGM Grand – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, is having a solid year in his second IndyCar season.  He has been in and out of the top-10 in the points all year and is currently 13th in the standings with 297 points, just 17 out of 10th.  The 34-year-old from Japan has finished in the top-10 seven times this year including his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas). He has also earned his first two IndyCar poles (Iowa, oval and Edmonton, street circuit) becoming the first Japanese driver to do this and led his first IndyCar race (Brazil) and subsequently three others.  On ovals, Sato has earned three top-10 finishes (oval career-high fifth at Texas race No. 1, seventh at New Hampshire and an eighth at Milwaukee) and earned his first career IndyCar pole and led his first oval laps, seven, at Iowa (also led 13 laps at New Hampshire).

“Hard to believe it is already the final round of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar series,” Sato said.  “Las Vegas will be a major big event as the League has planned many promotions and lots of events. I have a final school visit for With you Japan campaign there and look forward to seeing all the students and to inviting a hundred of them to the race - so a big thank you for the special support from the League. The track should be straightforward but after our difficult last race, we will have a different approach and it should be bring us back on the pace.

E. J. Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, is currently 18th in the standings with 241 points.  The 26-year-old Venezuelan has finished in the top-10 four times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second plus road-course season-high ninths at Toronto and Sonoma.  He has led two laps on an oval this year both at Texas No. 2.

The season ending IZOD IndyCar World Championships will be held October 13-16, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The race will be broadcast live on October 16 on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET.

first day of practice for the 2011 season ending IZOD IndyCar World Championships at

Las Vegas Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada.  E. J. Viso ended up 32nd when a fluid

leak cut his session short.

All three KVRT – Lotus drivers are making their first appearance on the 1.5-mile

D-shaped oval.

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, who is currently fifth in the

championship race with 366 points and trying to become the first KVRT driver to finish

in the top-five in the final standings, ran a total of 33 laps posting a fast lap of 24.9664

seconds (222.635 mph). 

"It was a good start,” Kanaan said.  “The GEICO - KVRT - Lotus car was pretty good out

of the box and we ran very consistent laps under traffic.  We still have a couple of things

to try tomorrow before qualifying, but I'm happy with how the 82 was handling today. 

Tonight we have a parade down on the strip and it will be very cool for all the fans and

the visitors that are here in Vegas to check out our cars."

Kanaan leads KVRT – Lotus with nine top-10 finishes including seven top-five showings

and three podiums (second at Iowa, thirds at St. Petersburg and Baltimore).  In six oval

events this year the 36-year-old Brazilian has earned three top-five finishes with one

podium (Indy 500, fourth; Texas race No. 2, fifth and Iowa, second) and led 97 laps

(Texas No. 2 , 39, Milwaukee, 33 and Iowa, 25). 

Sato, No. 5 MGM Grand – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, 13th in the standings with

297 points, only 17 out of 10th, is looking to have a strong race and finish in the top-10

in the standings in just his second IndyCar season. The 34-year-old from Japan ran the

most laps of the KVRT - Lotus trio, 47, recording a fast lap of 25.0424 seconds

(221.960 mph).

“It was a productive first day,” Sato said.  “We really needed to find some speed after

Kentucky, so we made a few changes.  The car worked well in traffic and we now need

to work on preparing for qualifying tomorrow.  The Las Vegas facility is very clean and

impressive.  The track is very high banked and smooth so I hope it's going to be a

good weekend for us.”

Sato has finished in the top-10 seven times this year including his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio and fifth at St. Petersburg and Texas). He has also earned his first two IndyCar poles (Iowa, oval and Edmonton, street circuit) becoming the first Japanese driver to do this and led his first IndyCar race (Brazil) and subsequently three others.  On ovals, Sato has earned three top-10 finishes (oval career-high fifth at Texas race No. 1, seventh at New Hampshire and an eighth at Milwaukee) and earned his first career IndyCar pole and led his first oval laps, seven, at Iowa (also led 13 laps at New Hampshire).

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, currently 18th in the standings with 241 points, was having a solid practice session when he developed a fluid leak that limited him to just 17 laps and a fast time of 25.2796 seconds (219.877 mph).

“What a nice track to finish the championship on,” Viso said.  “I really enjoyed running on it.  It is quite high banked and you can pretty much run flat through the first corner out of the pits.  We made make a few changes to the car and then it was feeling pretty good, however shortly after we got a fluid leak and finished early.  I am looking forward to getting back on track tomorrow and having a good qualifying.”

Viso,  26, has finished in the top-10 four times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second plus road-course season-high ninths at Toronto and Sonoma.  The talented Venezuelan has led two laps on an oval this year both at Texas No. 2.

KVRT - Lotus has been very competitive on ovals this year.  In the seven races contested this year, counting Texas as two starts, KVRT – Lotus has finished in the top-10 eight times, including four top-five showings and one podium performance. The team has earned one pole and led laps at Texas, Milwaukee, Iowa and New Hampshire.

The season ending IZOD IndyCar World Championships will be run Sunday, October 16.  The race will be broadcast live on October 16 on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET.

“I am very pleased to announce that MGM Grand is joining our team,” said KVRT – Lotus co-owner Jimmy Vasser. “As a resident of Las Vegas I am very excited that our team has partnered with such a local icon for this race. We look forward to having a great on-track result with MGM Grand at the IndyCar World Championships in Las Vegas.”

“Hosting this event in Las Vegas is a sensational opportunity for the entire city and we are thrilled to support Mr. Sato in his quest for a championship,” said Tim Kelly, vice president of hotel operations for MGM Grand. “MGM Grand is recognized worldwide as the center of Las Vegas entertainment so it is fitting for us to become involved with IndyCar weekend through our partnership with KVRT-Lotus.”

Sato, currently 13th in the championship race with 297 points, only 17 out of 10th, is looking for a strong showing at the IndyCar World Championships on the 1.5-mile D-shape Las Vegas Speedway oval that will propel him into the top-10 in the final standings. The 34-year-old from Japan is having a breakout year in his second IndyCar season. He has finished in the top-10 seven times this year including his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio and fifth at St. Petersburg and Texas). Sato has also earned his first two IndyCar poles, (on the oval in Iowa and on the street circuit in Edmonton) becoming the first Japanese driver to do so, and led his first IndyCar race (Brazil) and subsequently three others. On ovals, Sato has earned three top-10 finishes (oval career-high fifth at Texas race No. 1, New Hampshire – seventh and Milwaukee – eighth), his first career IndyCar pole and led his first oval laps, seven, both at Iowa (also led 13 laps at New Hampshire).

Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, who failed to qualify in the top-10 on an oval for the first time this season started 22nd. He fought hard all day and slowly but surely moved up the grid getting as high as ninth, however for most of the race he battled for spot in the top 15, which he did with skill and determination all race. Sato contested his second race at Kentucky this afternoon. In his debut last year he started 14th and finished 27th.

"It was a very tough race," Sato said. "At the beginning the car was so loose I almost lost it several times. But the main problem was we just didn't have overall speed, so I just kept following other cars using the draft. I gained a lot of positions on the restarts, but then I would get overtaken because the car was slow. In the end I was pleased that I finished the race. We did everything we could and we showed strength as a team. The pit stops were great. The crew did a good job. We need to go back and review what we did this weekend because we were not at our best today."

Sato earned 15 points today and now 13th in the standings with 297 points, just 17 out of 10th. The 34-year-old from Japan is having a solid year in his second IndyCar season. Sato has finished in the top-10 seven times including his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas). He has also earned his first two IndyCar poles (Iowa and Edmonton) becoming the first Japanese driver to win an IndyCar pole and led his first IndyCar race (Brazil) and subsequently three others. On ovals, Sato has earned three top-10 finishes (oval career-high fifth at Texas race No. 1, New Hampshire – seventh and Milwaukee – eighth), his first career IndyCar pole and led his first oval laps, seven, at Iowa (also led 13 laps at New Hampshire).

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, started 19th and had a similar race to his teammate. He battled all day getting as high as 13th, but mainly settled into a fight for a finish inside the top-20 where his patience and his vast experience paid off in valuable championship points. Kanaan made his ninth appearance at Kentucky today. He has finished in the top-10 seven times with five top-five showings including a win also in 07.

"We were slow, slow all day long," Kanaan said. "There was nothing I could do to make the car go any faster, so I took every start and restart to gain positions and did my best to maintain them during the green flag periods. But the car really didn't help. As soon as the field began to stretch I started losing positions again. It was a painful day for the GEICO - KVRT - Lotus guys."

Kanaan scored 13 points today and remains fifth in the championship race with 366 points. The 36-year-old Brazilian is having his best season in three years and is looking to become the first KVRT driver to finish in the top-five in the final standings. KVRT – Lotus co-owner Jimmy Vasser holds the team record with a sixth place finish in 2005. Kanaan leads KVRT – Lotus with nine top-10 finishes including seven top-five showings and three podiums (second at Iowa, thirds at St. Petersburg and Baltimore). In six oval events this year, he has earned three top-five finishes with one podium (Indy 500 – fourth; Texas2 – fifth and Iowa – second) and led 97 laps (Texas2 – 39, Milwaukee – 33 and Iowa – 25).

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, started 23rd and stayed between 23rd and 25th through the first round of pit stops. However, he pitted a second time early in the second stint for an adjustment which dropped him to 28th and put him several laps down. In one of the more dramatic moments of the race Simona de Silvestro barreled through Viso's pit scattering crew and tires and injuring one team member, Chief Mechanic Darrin (D. J.) McMahon (fractured knee). Viso made his fourth start at Kentucky Speedway today. His best finish is 13th in 2008.

"It's definitely a race to forget," Viso said. "From the beginning the car was undriveable. It was extremely loose and I almost lost it several times. Therefore we made the decision to pit early and make some changes which we believed would fix the car and it did. Once I returned to the track the car was way better and stable enough to make it to the end of the race, but we didn't have the pace and were a number of laps down. I also feel very bad for my Chief Mechanic, DJ McMahon who was injured by Simona de Silvestro in the pits. He unfortunately fractured his knee and hopefully will get better soon. As a team we are disappointed of the results, but we have one more shot

(Vegas Final) to put all our best efforts to bring home a stellar result."

Viso picked up 12 points today and remains 18th in the standings with 241 points. The 26-year-old Venezuelan has had some very strong performances during the 2011 season even if the final results haven't always been what they should, mostly due to a plethora of what can only be described as bad luck. Viso has finished in the top-10 four times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second plus road-course season-high ninths at Toronto and Sonoma. He has led two laps on an oval this year both at Texas No. 2.

KVRT – Lotus has been competitive on ovals this year. In the seven oval races, counting Texas as two starts, KVRT – Lotus has finished in the top-10 eight times, including four top-five showings and one podium performance (Kanaan, second in Iowa). The team has one pole (Sato in Iowa) and led laps at Texas, Milwaukee, Iowa and New Hampshire.

Next up for KVRT – Lotus is the season ending IZOD IndyCar World Championships, October 13-16, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. The race will be broadcast live on October 16 on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus qualified with a two-lap average speed of 216.484 mph and will start on inside of row 10. Commenting on his effort today Kanaan said, "I'm not going to say that I'm disappointed with our qualifying run because I knew coming into it that the

GEICO – KVRT - Lotus car was not fast enough to fight for a spot in the Top-10. On the other hand, I believe that we have a good car in traffic, and that's all that matters for the race here in Kentucky. Obviously I'd like to have a better starting position, but I believe we'll be better tomorrow during the race than what the qualifying position suggests."

Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, qualified with a speed of 215.856 mph. He will grid on the outside of row 11. "It was not a good qualifying session," Sato said. "The practice sessions were reasonable. The car was balanced and good in traffic, but we struggled in qualifying big time. The two laps were almost identical, so we just lacked speed. Unfortunately, we don't have a warm-up session before the race so we are going to have to rely on the data we have collected and hopefully come up with something to improve the car for tomorrow."

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA - KV Racing Technology – Lotus had an average speed of 215.789 mph and will lineup on inside of row 12. "The car felt pretty stable and I was able to get up to speed fast, but definitely we didn't go as fast as we would have liked," Viso said. "My teammates also found they had the same problem. There is something not right with our cars and we need to look at it tonight and make it better for the race tomorrow."

Kanaan has now qualified in the top-six four times in six races on ovals this year (not counting Texas No.2 where he drew the pole) including season-high thirds in New Hampshire and Iowa. The 36-year-old Brazilian will be making his ninth appearance at Kentucky. He has qualified in the top-10 six times with one pole (2007) in nine attempts. In eight previous starts, he has finished in the top-10 seven times with five top-five showings including a win (2007). Kanaan is currently fifth in the championship race with 353 points, just 44 out of fourth, based on nine top-10 finishes including seven top-five showings and three podiums (season-high second at Iowa, thirds at St. Petersburg and Baltimore). In six oval events this year (Texas two races) he has earned three top-five finishes with one podium (Indy 500, fourth; Texas race No. 2, fifth and Iowa, second) and led 97 laps (Texas No. 2 – 39, Milwaukee – 33 and Iowa – 25).

This is the first time this season that Sato has failed to qualify in the top-10 on an oval. He has qualified in top-10 in five of six oval events (not counting Texas No. 2) with three top-five starting spots and one pole (Iowa), his IndyCar career first making him the first Japanese driver to win an IndyCar pole. Sato will be making his second start at Kentucky. In his debut last year he started 14th and finished 27th. The 34-year-old is currently 14th in the standings with 282 points, just 20 out of 10th. He has finished in the top-10 seven times this year including his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas). Three of Sato's top-10 finishes have come on ovals (oval career-high fifth at Texas race No. 1, seventh at New Hampshire and an eighth at Milwaukee). He also led his first oval laps, seven, at Iowa (also led 13 laps at New Hampshire).

Viso has not qualified well on ovals this year other than in Milwaukee where he qualified an oval career-high sixth however he has had some very strong performances in the races, even though his final results don't always show it. The 26-year-old Venezuelan will be making his fourth appearance at Kentucky Speedway. In three previous races he has a best starting position of 18th in 2009 and a best finish of 13th in 2008. Viso is currently 18th in the standings with 229 points, 44 points out of 15th place. He has finished in the top-10 four times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second plus road-course season-high ninths at Toronto and Sonoma. Viso has led two laps on an oval this year both at Texas No. 2.

KVRT – Lotus has been competitive on ovals this year. The team has now qualified in the top-10 a total of 11 times including seven top-five starting positions and a pole in six oval events (not counting Texas race No. 2 where Kanaan got the pole by virtue of a draw). In the six oval races contested so far this year, counting Texas as two starts, KVRT – Lotus has finished in the top-10 eight times, including four top-five showings and one podium performance (Kanaan, second in Iowa). The team has led laps at Texas, Milwaukee, Iowa and New Hampshire.

There were two practices prior to qualifying. In the first, Sato had the fastest lap for KVRT – Lotus with a speed of 218.428 mph (24.3925 seconds) putting him fifth on the practice report. Kanaan was 12th with a lap of 217.524 mph (24.4938 seconds) with Viso 23rd at 216.459 mph (24.6144 seconds). In the second session Sato was again the fastest with a lap of 218.554 mph (24.37884 seconds) placing him 11th on the practice report. Kanaan was 20th overall at 217.524 mph (24.4938 seconds) with Viso 21st at 217.425 mph (24.5050 seconds).

The Meijer Indy 300 will be broadcast live on Sunday, October 2 on Versus beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET

KVRT – Lotus has been exceptionally competitive on ovals this year. In the six oval races contested this year, counting Texas as two starts, KVRT – Lotus has finished

in the top-10 eight times, including four top-five showings and one podium performance. The team has earned one pole and led laps at Texas, Milwaukee; Iowa and New

Hampshire. All three KVRT – Lotus drivers will all be looking to solidify their positions or move up in the standings with strong races at the season’s penultimate event in Kentucky and then the finale in Las Vegas.

Tony Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, currently fifth in the championship race with 353 points, just 44 out of fourth is having his best season in three years and is looking to become the first KVRT driver to finish in the top-five in the standings. Team co-owner Jimmy Vasser holds the team’s season high finish placing sixth in the standings in 2005. Kanaan leads KVRT – Lotus with nine top-10 finishes including seven top-five showings and three podiums (second at Iowa, thirds at St. Petersburg and Baltimore). In six oval events this year the 36-year-old Brazilian has earned three top-five finishes with one podium (Indy 500, fourth; Texas race No. 2, fifth and Iowa, second) and led 97 laps (Texas No. 2 , 39, Milwaukee, 33 and Iowa, 25). Kanaan will be making his ninth appearance at Kentucky. In eight previous races he has qualified in the top-10 six times with one pole in 2007. He has finished in the top-10 seven times with five top-five showings including a win also in 2007.

"It's great that we're coming to Kentucky for the final oval stretch of the year,” Kanaan said. “I love the track and I have good memories of it winning from pole in 07' and a getting a podium finish in 09', so I'm looking forward to going back there and putting a good show for the GEICO - KVRT - Lotus guys and all my fans. I believe that Kentucky will be a good barometer for what we're going to see at the season finale in Vegas in a couple of weeks."

Takuma Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, is having a solid year in his second IndyCar season. He has been in and out of the top-10 in the points all year and is currently 14th in the standings with 282 points, just 20 out of 10th. The 34-year-old from Japan has finished in the top-10 seven times this year including his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas). He has also earned his first two IndyCar poles (Iowa, oval and Edmonton, street circuit) becoming the first Japanese driver to do this and led his first IndyCar race (Brazil) and subsequently three others. On ovals, Sato has earned three top-10 finishes (oval career-high fifth at Texas race No. 1, seventh at New Hampshire and an eighth at Milwaukee) and earned his first career IndyCar pole and led his first oval laps, seven, at Iowa (also led 13 laps at New Hampshire). Sato will be making his second start at Kentucky. In his debut last year he started 14th and finished 27th.

‘It's been a while since we raced last at 1.5mile oval so it will be quite refreshing and exciting,” Sato said. “Kentucky, last year, was a very tough race as we struggle to find a balance and the race ended short so I'm really looking forward to coming back there and having a strong race.”

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, has been the victim of some bad luck this season which has hampered his results. However, the 26-year-old Venezuelan has rebounded recently with some very strong performances even if the results haven’t always been what they should. Viso is currently 18th in the standings with 229 points, 44 points out of 15th place. He has finished in the top-10 four times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second plus road-course season-high ninths at Toronto and Sonoma. Viso has led two laps on an oval this year both at Texas No. 2.

“It's refreshing to be going back to the mile and half ovals especially after having a pretty intense road/street course schedule for the last third of the year,” Viso said. “I'm excited because we've had good performance on the mile and a half tracks. I believe we are going to have a strong end to the season with Kentucky and Vegas being our last two races. It will hopefully be a good close to 2011 and we will welcome the new car and engines next year.”

The Meijer Indy 300 will be held October 1-2. The race will be broadcast live on Sunday, October 2 on Versus beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET

The IZOD IndyCar Series, which will not return to Japan in 2012, is being contested on the 2.983-mile, 14-turn TRM permanent road course, for the first time. It has competed on the Twin Ring Motegi oval since 2003.

Commenting on his day, Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, who logged a fast time of 100.4435 seconds (106.914 mph), said. "It was a great first day. I have really fantastic support from the fans beginning with the opening ceremony at 9:00 a.m. this morning. In just about every corner you can see the flags and hear the fans cheering. The practice session itself was difficult. We know what we want, but the grip level we had today was very low. It was very slippery and the car was difficult to drive. The good thing is we have a three car team so we have a lot of good data to review. We need to work very hard, but I think we will be able to improve tomorrow.'

Sato made his Motegi IndyCar debut last year and had his best oval performance of the season qualifying 10th and finishing 12th. The 34-year-old from Japan is 14th in the standings with 262 points just 22 out of 10th. He has finished in the top-10 six times this year including his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas). He has also earned his first two IndyCar poles (Iowa, oval and Edmonton, street circuit) becoming the first Japanese driver to do this and led his first IndyCar race (Brazil) and subsequently three others. Three of his top-10 finishes, two of his top-fives and one pole have come on road/street events.

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, who posted a time of 100.6600 seconds (106.684 mph) said, "We had a difficult day today, I was not happy with how the car was handling and I believe that we have a lot to improve before qualifying. We'll work overnight and hopefully we can find what's upsetting the car to get it dialed in for tomorrow."

Kanaan has made 13 starts on the oval here at Motegi (five in the CART Series and eight in the IndyCar Series). In his eight IndyCar Series starts has qualified in the top-10 seven times including five times in the top-five with a best starting position of second in 2003 and finished in the top-10 six times with four top-five showings, three podium performances and a win in 2007. The 36-year-old Brazilian is fifth in the championship race with 340 points, just 27 out of fourth. He leads KVRT – Lotus with nine top-10 finishes including seven top-five showings and three podiums (second at Iowa, thirds at St. Petersburg and Baltimore). Kanaan however has not qualified well on the road/street circuits starting in the top-10 just twice in nine events this year, but he has been extremely competitive in the races finishing in the top-10 six times including four top-five finishes and two podiums.

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, recorded a lap of 100.8351 seconds (106.499 mph). Regarding today's event he said, "It's always great to be driving surrounded with so many enthusiastic fans every time we race in Japan, I feel proud for them because after all the catastrophe that happened they are still so strong and very positive about life. It's great that IndyCar has put this race together as I believe this event is bringing the Japanese fans lots of excitement and something to look forward to."

Viso went on to say, "The track is setup very nicely finished, it's smooth and clean. At the moment we are adapting the car to some low grip level. We are working on some important changes over night which should be good for tomorrow."

Viso has raced on the Motegi oval twice with a best starting position of eighth last year. He has finished 15th both times (2009 and 2010). The 26-year-old Venezuelan is 18th in the standings with 217 points. He has finished in the top-10 four times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second plus road-course season-high ninths at Toronto and Sonoma. His career best finish on a road/street course is fourth at St. Petersburg in 2008 (overall career-high, third in Iowa). Viso has had competitive races on the road/street circuits this year. However, his efforts have been stymied by a string of what can only be described as bad luck.

KVRT – Lotus has had some of their best results this season on tracks that require drivers to turn right as well as left and earning 11 top-10 finishes with six top-five showings in nine road/street events.

There will be two practice sessions tomorrow the first at 9:00 a.m. and the second at 12:00 noon followed by qualifying at 3:00 p.m. The Bridgestone Indy, will be broadcast in the United States on Saturday, September 16 on Versus at 11:30 p.m. ET.

For the second week in a row Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, qualified a team- high ninth with a time of 80.9416 seconds (90.732 mph) and will start on the inside of row five. Viso has now made it to at least the second round of street/road course qualifying in the last four consecutive events, including making the final round, the Firestone Fast Six, once. In addition to the ninth place starting positions here in Baltimore and in Sonoma, he qualified a season-high fifth at Edmonton and 12th at Mid-Ohio.

Commenting on today's qualifying and tomorrow's race Viso said, "Being again in the top-10 is always good, especially after having limited practice yesterday," Viso said. "Half of the track is really smooth and the other half is very bumpy so there has to be a huge compromise in the setup of the car. It's going to be a long and messy race. We can see that there are going to be some yellows. We had a few issues with braking today, which prevented us from getting in the top-six, but we will look at all the data tonight and go over the car and we should be faster tomorrow. We just want to finish the race and we believe a good result will come with it as we think a lot of cars won't make it to the end."

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, who also reached the second round of qualifying for the fourth time this season, posted a fast lap of 81.3764 seconds (90.247 mph). He will start on the inside of row six.

"We made some good progress with our setup from this morning and considering that we were 22nd in the last practice, getting an 11th place on qualifying is not that bad," Kanaan said. "That's the good thing about how KVRT - Lotus works. We have three cars and we swap a lot of info, so sometimes one of us might not look as good during a practice because we are trying something different, but then we compare our feedbacks and go with the best setup. I am ready to put on a good show tomorrow for my friends from GEICO and all the fans from the Baltimore area."

Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, was third on the speed charts in the first round with just minutes remaining in the session when he spun and stalled the car causing a full course caution. Per the series rules he was therefore penalized his two fastest laps which initially dropped him to 13 of the 14 cars in his group. Following the caution there was enough time to run one timed lap and in a valiant effort Sato once again logged a time that would have placed him fourth in his group and advance him to the second round, but that lap was also taken away by the penalty, leaving him last on tomorrow's starting grid.

"I had a positive feeling in qualifying and after a few laps in traffic I was able to put in a time that would have got me through the first round of qualifying," Sato said. "Unfortunately, I was running a faster lap and on the downshift I had a problem and lost the drive and stalled the car which caused a caution. That meant I lost my two fastest laps. After the caution I got one more timed lap and ran a lap that again would have gotten me into the second round of qualifying, but again that lap was taken away. I am extremely disappointed with my qualifying position for the race, but I will try my best."

This is the eighth time in nine street/road events this year that KVRT – Lotus has had at least one driver advance to the second round of street/road course qualifying (missed only in Toronto). Sato has done it five times (St. Petersburg, Barber, Sāo Paulo, Edmonton and Mid-Ohio), Kanaan (St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Edmonton and Baltimore) and Viso four (Edmonton, Mid-Ohio, Sonoma and Baltimore). KVRT – Lotus has had some of their best results on street/road circuits this year earning 10 top-10 finishes with five top-five showings in the eight street/road events contested so far this year.

Viso has now qualified in the top-10 four times this year. In addition to the ninths at Sonoma and Baltimore, he has qualified an oval career-high sixth at Milwaukee and a season-high fifth at Edmonton. The 26-year-old Venezuelan is 18th in the standings with 202 points. He has finished in the top-10 four times, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second, plus street/road course season-high ninths at Toronto and Sonoma. His career best finish on a street/road course is fourth at St. Petersburg in 2008 (overall career-high, third in Iowa).

Kanaan has qualified in the top-10 seven times including three top-five starting spots. The 36-year-old Brazilian is sixth in the championship race with 305 points. He has finished in the top-10 eight times this season including six top-five showings and two podiums (season-high second at Iowa and third at St. Petersburg). Kanaan has qualified in the top-10 just twice in nine street/road events this year (best starting spot is eighth at St. Petersburg), but finished in the top-10 in five of the eight street/road races this year, including three top-five finishes and a podium (St. Petersburg, third; Edmonton, fourth; Mid-Ohio, fifth).

Sato has been the team's best qualifier this year starting in the top-10 eight times; the top-five four times with two poles (IndyCar career first at Iowa and Edmonton). He has qualified in the top-11 five times in nine attempts on road/street circuits this year including taking the pole at Edmonton. The 34-year-old from Japan is 11th in the standings with 250 points. He has finished in the top-10 six times including his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth on the road course at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas). Three of his top-10 finishes and two of his top-fives have come on street/road circuits

In this morning's practice today, Sato had the fastest lap of the KVRT – Lotus trio with a time of 81.8848 seconds (89.686 mph) putting him 11th on the practice report. Viso was 13th with a lap of 82.0163 seconds (89.543 mph) with Kanaan 22nd at 82.6071 seconds (88.903 mph)

The Baltimore Grand Prix will be broadcast live, Sunday, September 4 on Versus at 2:00 p.m. ET

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, had a horrendous accident in the morning warm-up when his brakes failed. The damage was so extensive that the entire KVRT – Lotus team including Kanaan himself, team co-owner Jimmy Vasser and General Manager Mark Johnson all worked alongside crew members of all three KVRT – Lotus cars for over four hours repairing the car and getting it to the grid on time. However, the team decided to switch tubs (the area where the driver sits), so Kanaan, per IndyCar rules, gridded 27th instead of 11th where he initially qualified. Kanaan drove intelligently during the early stages of the race and the team decided to use an alternative fuel strategy bringing him in for fuel on lap 12. Even with the early stop Kanaan still managed to make progress through the field and was running in 19th place when he pitted for fuel for the second time shortly after the first caution. His big break came following the restart which resulted in a massive crash in the hairpin. Kanaan avoided the carnage and when the dust settled and the field had been "reorganized" by series officials, he found himself in 11th place. At that point the team made the crucial decision to come in for a final splash of fuel and the stage was set. Kanaan immediately passed three cars to move into eighth place and when the lead cars, who were on a two stop strategy began to pit starting around lap 60 he found himself in third place. Saving fuel and defending his position, Kanaan made it the final 30 plus laps to finish on the podium.

Commenting on his day an exhausted Kanaan said, "Wow, what a day. We had a problem in the morning warm-up that caused a huge crash and destroyed my primary car. My guys really worked hard to get the backup car together. I mean, everyone from the team was helping to get the car ready for the race. Then we start 27th on a road course and finish third... What can I say? I'm as happy as I can be with this podium. Finishing third was a victory for us. It was a great performance from the whole GEICO-KVRT-Lotus team at GEICO's hometown. It was awesome, great calls from my guys in the pits, huge support from my team, Kevin Kalkohven, Jimmy (Vasser) and Mark (Johnson) and a hard race where we fought for every inch and used every opportunity we had."

Kanaan scored 35 points today and moved back into the top-five, at No. 5 in the championship race with 340 points. The 36-year-old Brazilian has finished in the top-10 nine times including seven top-five showings and three podiums (second at Iowa and third at St. Petersburg to go with today's third). Kanaan has finished in the top-10 in six of the nine street/road races contesting this year including four top-five finishes and two podiums (St. Petersburg and Baltimore, third; Edmonton, fourth; Mid-Ohio, fifth also placed sixth at Barber and eighth at Long Beach).

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, who for the second weekend in a row and the second time this season started a team-high ninth. He drove a very strong race, but was simply the victim of some bad luck in terms of the way the race unfolded. Viso quickly moved into sixth place where he ran for throughout the first stint. Following the hairpin crash, which he managed to avoid, Viso emerged in fourth place, but was later was dropped to fifth during the "reorganization." Since he was running with the lead group the team utilized the same two pit stop strategy as the leaders, which unfortunately as the race developed the results did not play out as hoped. Viso remained in fifth place until his second and final stop on lap 59. Unfortunately, when he returned to completion he was in 15th place and stuck in traffic on a track that is difficult to pass.

"It was a really heartbreaking race," Viso said. "It looked pretty clear that we could have finished 5th in the worst case scenario if the race had continued the way it was going, but a "lottery" came up at the end where we stuck with the leaders strategy and it worked out only for (Will) Power. We had a pretty good car that gave me the speed necessary to stay with the lead pack. It's one of those races where things were going great and then we lost it all. We have been strong all weekend and now I'm looking forward to Japan. It's going to be a new road course for all of us and I think we are going to do great there. I need to give a lot of credit to my crew for giving me a very solid car in the last few races."

Viso scored 15 points today and remains 18th in the standings with 217 points. The 26-year-old Venezuelan has finished in the top-10 four times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second plus road-course season-high ninths at Toronto and Sonoma. His career best finish on a road/street course is fourth at St. Petersburg in 2008 (overall career-high, third in Iowa).

Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, had a eventful qualifying. After posting the third fastest lap in his group in round one he was penalized his two fastest laps for causing a full course caution and ended up qualifying last of the 28 cars in the field. However, when Kanaan crashed into Helio Castroneves in the warm-up forcing both into backup cars, Sato moved up two spots without every running a lap. Starting with the drop of the green flag Sato continued that trend moving into 14th place during the first stint when several cars decided to use an alternative fuel strategy and pitted very early. Sato pitted for the first time on lap 21, a little early, but still a two pit stop strategy. Unfortunately, Sato got collected in the multi-car crash following the restart after the first caution and damaged his front wing. During the ensuing yellow, the team made the decision to revert to an alternative fuel strategy pitting twice within four laps. The plan worked to perfection as Sato began to pass cars with abandon and the leaders two stop strategy failed. At that point Sato found himself in sixth place, but unfortunately he had very slight contact with the wall with two laps remaining in the race and damaged the car ending his day in 18th place.

Commenting on the race Sato said, "It was a tough race. During the first stint I moved up. Midway through the second stint there was a crash involving multiple cars in the hairpin after a restart and I had unavoidable contact which damaged the front wing. I stayed out and when they reorganized the field I was in ninth place. We decided to put in enough fuel to make it to the end of the race and at the same time we fixed the wing, which put me in the back of the grid. From there I raced really hard and it was quite exciting overtaking cars in the hairpin. Also the strategy worked well. At the end I was running in sixth place when unfortunately, I brushed the wall and damaged the steering, so in the end I could not turn the car through the hairpin. It was really a shame."

Sato earned 12 points for his effort today and is 14th in the standings with 262 points. The 34-year-old from Japan has finished in the top-10 six times including his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth on the road course at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas). Three of his top-10 finishes and two of his top-fives have come on street/road circuits (career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas).

KVRT – Lotus has had some of their best results this season on tracks that require drivers to turn right as well as left and earning 11 top-10 finishes with six top-five showings in nine road/street events.

Next up for KVRT – Lotus is the Indy Japan 300, September 15-17, on the Twin Ring Motegi road course in Motegi Tochigi, Japan. The race will be broadcast in the United States on Saturday, September 16 on Versus at 11:30 p.m. ET

KV Racing Technology – Lotus got in 75 minutes of practice

and placed two drivers in the top-10 on the speed charts

during the opening day of the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix

in Baltimore, Maryland.

Takuma Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, led the

way with a lap of 82.9705 seconds (88.513 mph) on the

2.04-mile, 13-turn temporary street circuit placing him

seventh on the practice report. Tony Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO

– KV Racing Technology – Lotus was ninth with a time of

83.1990 seconds (88.270 mph) while E. J. Viso, who spent

much of the session in the top-10 before experiencing a

mechanical problem, ended up 23rd with a lap of 84.4138

seconds (87.000 mph).

Sato, 11th in the standings with 250 points, said, "First of

all I have to say I am very impressed with the venue and the

enthusiasm of the fans. It is really great."

The 34-year-old from Japan, who has finished in the top-10

six times including his first three IndyCar top-five finishes

(career-high fourth on the road course at Mid-Ohio, fifths at

St. Petersburg and Texas) so far this year went on to say,

"It was a good practice session. The track has got a unique

characteristic. It has a smooth high-speed section and a

bumpy concrete section. It is a very interesting and fun

track. It was important to have a trouble free first session,

which we did, and collect valuable data."

.

Kanaan, sixth in the championship race with 305 points said,

"I had kind of a short practice run today. Looked like every

time I left the pits a full course yellow came out, so I don't

think I got the amount of laps I'd like to get being at a

completely new track. As expected from a street course the

track is very bumpy and also narrow because of the walls on

both sides. I hope that tomorrow we can get some more laps

in to improve our car before qualifying. Starting up in front

here will be crucial in order to get a good result."

The 36-year-old Brazilian has finished in the top-10 eight times this season including six top-five showings and two podiums (second at Iowa and third at St. Petersburg). Kanaan has finished in the top-10 in five of the eight street/road races this year, including three top-five finishes and a podium (St. Petersburg, third; Edmonton, fourth; Mid-Ohio, fifth also placed sixth at Barber and eighth at Long Beach).

Viso, 18th in the standings with 202 points, is coming off a road/street course season-high tying ninth place finish last weekend in Sonoma. Commenting on today's practice he said, "It's a fun street course, but high frequency bumps. This is asking a lot from the setup of the car especially in the faster corners with the braking and traction, which we will be working on again tomorrow. I was running in the top-10 for most of the session until I had a mechanical failure in the last 16 minutes and the others drivers were able to put on new tires and set faster times. I am looking forward to tomorrow."

The 26-year-old Venezuelan, who after a rough start to the season, has now finished in the top-10 four times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second plus the ninths at Toronto and Sonoma. His career best finish on a road/street course is fourth at St. Petersburg in 2008 (overall career-high, third in Iowa).

There will be another practice session tomorrow from 9:05 – 10:05 a.m. followed by qualifying at 12:10 p.m. The Baltimore Grand Prix will be broadcast live, Sunday, September 4 on Versus at 2:00 p.m. ET

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 28, 2011 – KV

Racing Technology – Lotus driver  E. J. Viso, finished

ninth today in the Grand Prix of Sonoma in Sonoma,

California.  Takuma Sato finished 18th while Tony Kanaan

suffered a mechanical problem and placed 28th.

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus,

who was the fastest of the KVRT – Lotus trio and led the

team in qualifying for the first time this year, started ninth. 

He drove a solid, patient race and never put a wheel

wrong on the challenging 1.968-mile, 12-turn Infineon

Raceway permanent road course. He got as high as

sixth and was never lower than 10th.  Viso, who made

his fourth start in picturesque Sonoma, earned his second

best finish here, placed sixth in 2008 and tied his

season-best finish on a road/street circuit (placed ninth

in Toronto).

"Finishing in the top-10 today was not bad especially after the difficult weekend we had as a team,” Viso said.  “We never really found the full speed that we needed to run up front.  It was one of those weekends where you need to try and stay strong which we showed today.  We believe that our street setup suits the next race and so we will be looking for a strong finish.  I want to thank the PDVSA – KVRT – Lotus for all their hard work this weekend and also my sponsors".

Viso scored 22 points today and is now 18th in the standings with 202 points.  The 26-year-old Venezuelan, who after a rough start to the season, has now finished in the top-10 four times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second plus the ninths at Toronto and here.  His career best finish on a road/street course is fourth at St. Petersburg in 2008 (overall career-high, third in Iowa).

Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, qualified 16th, but early in the race the team decided to go to the alternate “red” tires and employ a three-stop strategy in a effort to gain track position.  Unfortunately, the yellow flag needed to make the strategy work and did not materialize until late in the race when it was too late.  Sato competed at Infineon Raceway for the second time.  In his debut last year he finished 18th.

Commenting on the race Sato said, “It was a tough, long race.  We were flexible about doing a two or three pit stop strategy.  Then early in the race the team made the decision to go with three stops.  We had the pace however things didn’t quite work out with the strategy.  The biggest problem we had was a lack of speed.  We have to work really hard to find some. It was a disappointing finish.”

Sato went on to say, “The KVRT – Lotus mechanics did a great job today.  Before the start of the race we had a water leak and the crew had to change the radiator 15 minutes before the start of the race.  They did a fantastic job and I just want to say well done everybody.”

Sato earned 12 points for his effort today and is now 11th in the standings with 250 points.  The 34-year-old from Japan has finished in the top-10 six times including his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas).

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, started 21st and like his teammate went to the red tires, three stop strategy early.  Unfortunately, at the halfway point of the race he experienced a mechanical problem which ended his race.  Kanaan, who made his seventh start at Infineon Raceway today, had the best average finish of any IndyCar driver that has competed in the first six races at Infineon Raceway (5.67).  He has finished in the top-10 five times with a win in 2005 (fourth in 2007, third in 2008, eighth in 2009 and seventh in 2010) who failed to qualify in the top-10 for the first time in seven attempts here in Sonoma

"We went on an alternate strategy right in the beginning of the race to get rid of the black tires,” Kanaan said. “It went really well until I got stuck behind Carpenter and couldn't pass him.  The GEICO - KV - Lotus guys did a good job with the strategy but it didn't pan out.  After that we had a mechanical problem that ended my race."

Kanaan scored 10 points today and is now sixth in the championship race with 305 points.  The 36-year-old Brazilian has finished in the top-10 eight times including six top-five showings and two podiums (second at Iowa and third at St. Petersburg).  Kanaan has finished in the top-10 in five of the eight road/street races including three top-five finishes and a podium (St. Petersburg, third; Edmonton, fourth; Mid-Ohio, fifth also placed sixth at Barber and eighth at Long Beach).

KVRT – Lotus has had some of their best results this season on tracks that require drivers to turn right as well as left and earning 10 top-10 finishes with five top-five finishes in eight road/street events.

Next up for KVRT – Lotus is the Baltimore Grand Prix, September 2-4, on the streets of downtown Baltimore in Baltimore, MD.  The race will be broadcast live, Sunday, September 4 on Versus at 2:00 p.m. ET

eighth on the speed charts after the first day of

practice for Sunday’s Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma

on the challenging 1.968-mile, 12-turn permanent

road course in picturesque Sonoma, California. 

Teammates Tony Kanaan and Takuma Sato were

22nd and 23rd respectively.

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology –

Lotus, who tested here last week, recorded a fast

time of 80.3457 seconds (103.189 mph).   The

26-year-old Venezuelan, who will be attempting to

qualify for his fourth race at Infineon Raceway, has

a best qualifying position of 13th in 2009 and a best

finish of sixth in 2008.

“It was exciting being back out on track, but we have

a lot of work to do with the car,” Viso said.  “We are

lacking a huge amount of grip.  I think all three

KVRT – Lotus drivers agree on that.  So we are

going to have to work to fix that problem.  Some of the testing we did last week has been helpful, but we need to work some more to make the car faster.  This is one of those races where it is important to qualify well and the setup needs to be just right in order to have a good race.”   

Viso, 21st in the standings with 180 points, has finished in the top-10 three times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second as well as a road/street course season-high ninth at Toronto.  His career best finish on a road/street course is fourth at St. Petersburg in 2008 (overall career-high, third in Iowa).  Viso, who qualified a season-high fifth on the Edmonton street circuit, has had several competitive races on road/street courses this year.  However, his efforts have been stymied by a string of unfortunate incidents, most of which can only be described as bad luck (punctured tire at St. Pete, hit by another competitor at Barber, contact in Long Beach, questionable blocking penalty at Brazil, two punctured tires at Toronto and contact in Edmonton).

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, who was limited to 30 minutes of practice time because he is in the top-10 in the standings and only used one set of tires, had a fast lap of 80.8517 seconds (102.543 mph).  The 36-year-old Brazilian, who has the best average finish of any IndyCar driver that has competed in all six races at Infineon Raceway (5.67), has qualified in the top-10 all six times with a best starting position of third in 2005 and 2007.  He has finished in the top-10 five times with a win in 2005 (fourth in 2007, third in 2008, eighth in 2009 and seventh in 2010).

Commenting on his day Kanaan said, “I did not test here last week so this was my first time on track since last year and I am working with a new engineer this weekend, so today was about getting to know each other.  I think it is obvious we have a lot of work to do with the car before tomorrow’s qualifying.  Fortunately, we have a lot of data to review and another practice tomorrow morning before qualifying.”

Kanaan, who has been in the top-five in the championship race almost the entire season, is currently fifth in the standings with 295 points, just 13 out of fourth.   In 12 races this season (Texas two starts), Kanaan leads KVRT – Lotus with eight top-10 finishes including six top-five showings and two podiums (second at Iowa and third at St. Petersburg) in 13 races (Texas two starts).  Despite qualifying in the top-10 just twice in seven road/street events this year (with a best starting spot of eighth at St. Petersburg), Kanaan has never-the-less been extremely competitive.  He has finished in the top-10 in five of the seven races including three top-five finishes and a podium (St. Petersburg, third; Edmonton, fourth; Mid-Ohio, fifth also placed sixth at Barber and eighth at Long Beach).

Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, who like Kanaan, got only 30 minutes of practice because he is in the top-10 in the standings and used only one set of tires, posted a fast lap of 80.9204 seconds (102.456 mph).  The 34-year-old from Japan is competing at Infineon Raceway for the second time.  In his debut last year he qualified 17th and finished 18th.

Speaking about his day Sato said, “The problem we had at the test last week was getting the balance right and even though the car is better, we still have that problem.  The car is just lacking grip.  We collected some data today and checked some things we saw at the test, which worked out how we expected, so that was good.  However, we need to find more speed.

Sato, who had been in the top-10 in the points for much of the season, is again 10th in the standings with 238 points.  He has finished in the top-10 six times this year, including in each of the last two races with an IndyCar career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio.  Sato, who is having a breakout season, has earned his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (the fourth at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas), his first IndyCar poles (on the oval in Iowa and the street circuit in Edmonton, becoming the first Japanese IndyCar driver to do so) and led his first IndyCar race (at Brazil) and subsequently led three other races (Iowa, Edmonton and New Hampshire) for a total of 61 laps.  Sato, a veteran of seven Formula 1 seasons, has been strong on street and road circuits this year.  He has earned the fourth at Mid-Ohio, the fifth at St. Petersburg, an eighth at Brazil, the pole at Edmonton and has had strong performances at Barber, Long Beach and Edmonton nullified by incidents.

KVRT – Lotus has had some of their best results this season on tracks that require drivers to turn right as well as left and earning nine top-10 finishes with five top-five finishes in seven road/street events.  With the next three events of the 2011 season all road/street events (Sonoma, the streets of Baltimore and the road course at Twin Ring Motegi), the team will attempt to use this portion of the season to move up in the championship standings.

The start of today's race was moved ahead by 30 minutes due to the threat of rain, which did materialize causing two extended caution periods.

Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, who contested his first race at New Hampshire, qualified eighth. He engaged in several spirited battles during the early part of the race and in the end won most of them climbing to fifth place prior to the first round of pit stops. Having saved fuel, he was able to go one lap further than the leaders and after the first stop Sato was in second place. He ran in second for much of the second stint, which included a long caution for rain. Following the restart at the end of the rain caution there was a second caution followed by a restart. During the second restart, Sato became entangled with race leader Dario Franchitti. The contact damaged Sato's right front tire and front wing. Two pit stops later his car was functional, if not in perfect condition, and Sato resumed the battle now in eighth place, but still on the lead lap. He battled throughout the remainder of the contest and actually took the lead for several laps when he was able to remain on track because of the extra fuel he got during the stop for repairs. Following his fourth and final stop, Sato was running in seventh place, when there was a second caution for rain. With rain still falling and track conditions borderline at best, officials ordered a questionable restart which resulted in several cars colliding. Sato was in the middle of the melee and knocked out of the race. However, race officials immediately threw a red flag, which reverted the field to the positions the drivers held two laps prior to the restart placing Sato seventh.

"At the start of the race we had three consecutive restarts. It was very crowded, but I had some exciting battles where at first I lost, but in the end I gained positions. Then during the first stint I raced hard and gained some places on track, which was very exciting and at the same time I saved fuel, so I was able to go one more lap and I moved into second place. Then there was a restart, which was quickly followed by another caution and a restart. During that second restart I got tangled with Dario (Franchitti) and I had to come into the pits for repairs. After that the car was still slightly damaged, but I was able to push really hard and fight for position. At the end of the race there was a caution for rain and during the restart the track was very slippery. Just before we crossed the start/finish line there was an accordion and a big crash. I am really disappointed to finish the race this way."

Sato picked up 26 points today and is now 10th in the standings with 238 points. The 34-year-old from Japan has finished in the top-10 six times this year including scoring his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas). On ovals, he has earned three top-10 finishes (oval career-high fifth at Texas race No. 1, seventh at New Hampshire and an eighth at Milwaukee) and led his first oval laps, seven, at Iowa (led x laps here today).

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, also making his first start at New Hampshire, began the day 17th on the grid. He had a tire problem during his first stint, but persevered and held position. During his second and third stints he drove a smart patient race and avoided the problems that many drivers experienced during restart. Battling throughout the contest he worked his way into the top-10 getting as high as eighth, but a penalty for passing the lead car during the yellow dropped him back to 12th.

"During the first stint I got a very unbalanced set of tires which only made things worse on that run making me loose laps to the leaders." Viso said. "After the first pit stop the car was good, but we had a long way to fight back through the field. The PDVSA – KVRT – Lotus crew did a great job on the stops and I was able to stay free of any trouble and pass some cars on track. We got ourselves in a position to finish in the top-8, however, after the accident that happened during the restart when the track was wet, the officials made a decision to revert the field back to the order we were in prior to the restart, so I ended up 12th.

Viso scored 18 points today and is now 21st in the standings with 180 points, The 26-year-old Venezuelan has finished in the top-10 three times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second. His best road/street course finish is ninth at Toronto. Viso's IndyCar career-high finish is a third on the oval at Iowa last year.

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, who like his teammates competed at New Hampshire for the first time, started a season-high tying third. He dropped to sixth during the first stint, but was having a very strong race. Kanaan was in 10th place following the first pit stop, but shortly after the restart following the rain caution, Kanaan went to pass Marco Andretti, who was a lap down, on the low line while Tomas Scheckter attempted to pass Andretti on the high side. Scheckter and Andretti made contact sending Scheckter sliding across the track directly into the path of a helpless Kanaan. The resulting contact knocked both cars out of the race ending Kanaan's race.

"You've got to ask Marco and Scheckter what they were thinking... I was on the inside and all of a sudden I got collected. I don't know who hit who where, but they gotta have something to explain. When a car is a lap down, they shouldn't be racing the cars that are on the lead lap. I'm glad that I'm ok, but I'm upset for the GEICO – KVRT – Lotus guys... The car was not the fastest car out there today, but there were still important points for us. Let's move on."

Kanaan earned 12 points for his effort today and is now fifth in the championship race with 295 points, 13 points out of fourth. The 36-year-old Brazilian leads KVRT – Lotus with eight top-10 finishes including six top-five showings and two podiums (second at Iowa and third at St. Petersburg) in 13 races (Texas two starts). In six oval events this year Kanaan has earned three top-five finishes with one podium (Indy 500, fourth; Texas race No. 2, fifth and Iowa, second) and led 58 laps (Milwaukee, 33 and Iowa, 25).

KVRT – Lotus has been exceptionally competitive on ovals this year. In the six oval races contested so far this year, counting Texas as two starts, KVRT – Lotus has finished in the top-10 eight times (Sato four times, Kanaan three, Viso once), including four top-five showings (Kanaan three, Sato once) and one podium performance (Kanaan's second place showing at Iowa). In three short oval races the team has led laps in all three events, 33 at Milwaukee (all by Kanaan), 32 at Iowa (Kanaan, 25, Sato 7) and 13 at New Hampshire (all by Sato), however late race incidents have foiled their chances at a victory and limited their results to two top-10 finishes, an eighth at Milwaukee (Sato) and a second at Iowa (Kanaan).

Next up for KVRT – Lotus is the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, August 26-28, at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. The race will be broadcast live, Sunday, August 28 on Versus at 4:00 p.m. ET

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, qualified with a two-lap average of 169.698 mph. He will start on the inside of row two. "It was a solid run, a little bit slower than I expected, but still good enough to hold the third spot until the end of the qualifying session," Kanaan said. "You know, when you're one of the first guys to go out to qualify it kind of hurts your time because the track keeps getting faster and faster. I'm proud of my guys. The GEICO – KVRT – Lotus team did a very good job putting me up front. I think that we have a pretty good race car for tomorrow, but this is a tough track to pass so we'll see how it goes during the race."

Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, qualified with an average speed of 169.044 mph and will grid on the outside of row four. Commenting on his qualifying run Sato said, "It was a reasonably good qualifying session. In the morning practice the car felt good. Then in the afternoon session the track conditions changed because of the different tire rubber used by the support series, so it was difficult to judge which direction to go with the setup. For qualifying the track conditions were more like this morning and the car felt secure. I was a little disappointed because the car felt 'draggy' so hopefully we can make some improvements for the race tomorrow."

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, averaged 166.536 mph and will lineup on the inside of row nine. Regarding his qualifying effort Viso said, "I am not happy. We know we had a good setup, my two teammates proved that. But for some reason we haven't been able to do the same with our car. It was just very difficult to drive in qualifying. I had huge understeer that prevented me from going faster. Tomorrow is another day and the race is going to be one of the most difficult of the season, so we will now focus on making the car good for the race."

All three KVRT – Lotus drivers qualified for their first race on the traditional one-mile New Hampshire oval. Kanaan is the only one of the three who has been here before having participated in a Firestone tire test last year.

Kanaan has qualified in the top-10 seven times including three top-five starting spots in 12 races this year (not including drawing the pole for the second race in Texas). The 36-year-old Brazilian has been even better on ovals starting in the top-six four times in five races (not counting Texas No.2) including season-high thirds here in New Hampshire and at Iowa (qualified sixth at Texas race No. 1, and fourth at Milwaukee). Kanaan, fourth in the championship race with 283 points, leads KVRT – Lotus with eight top-10 finishes including six top-five showings and two podiums (second at Iowa and third at St. Petersburg) in 12 races (Texas two starts). On ovals he has earned three top-five finishes with one podium (Indianapolis, fourth; Texas race No. 2, fifth and Iowa, second) and led 58 laps (Milwaukee, 33 and Iowa, 25).

Sato has been the team's best qualifier this year starting in the top-11 a total of 10 times in 12 races (not counting Texas No. 2), the top-10 eight times, the top-five four times with two poles (IndyCar career first at Iowa and second on the street circuit at Edmonton). On ovals he has qualified in top-10 all five times (not counting second race Texas where gird was determined by a draw) with three top-five starting spots and the one pole (fourth for Texas No. 1, fifth in Milwaukee). The 34-year-old from Japan is 12th in the standings with 212 points, just 10 points out of 10th. He has finished in the top-10 five times this year including scoring his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas). On ovals, he has earned two top-10 finishes (oval career-high fifth at Texas in race No. 1 and eighth at Milwaukee) and led his first oval laps, seven, at Iowa.

Viso has qualified in the top-10 twice this year starting a season-high fifth at Edmonton and an oval career-high sixth at Milwaukee. The 26-year-old Venezuelan, who is 20th in the standings with 162 points, has finished in the top-10 three times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second (finished a road/street course season-high ninth at Toronto). One of Viso's best performances this season came at Milwaukee, where he was running in fourth place late in the race, but fell victim to an accident. Viso's IndyCar career-high oval finish is a third at Iowa last year.

KVRT – Lotus has been exceptionally competitive on ovals this year. The team has now qualified in the top-10 a total of 11 times including seven top-five starting positions and two poles in five oval events (not counting Texas race No. 2 where Kanaan got the pole by virtue of a draw). On short ovals, Milwaukee, Iowa and here in New Hampshire, they have been even stronger qualifying in the top-10 seven times, the, the top-six, six times, the top-five five times with one pole in nine attempts. They put all three cars in the top-six at Milwaukee. In the five oval races contested so far this year, counting Texas as two starts, KVRT – Lotus has finished in the top-10 seven times, including four top-five showings and one podium performance. In the two short oval races the team has led laps in both events, 33 at Milwaukee and 32 at Iowa, however late race incidents have foiled their chances at a victory and limited their results to two top-10 finishes, an eighth at Milwaukee (Sato) and a second at Iowa (Kanaan).

There were two practice sessions today prior to qualifying. In the morning practice today, Kanaan had the fastest lap of the KVRT – Lotus trio with a speed of 170.322 mph (21.6649 seconds) putting him third on the practice report. Sato was fifth with a lap of 169.256 mph (21.8013 seconds) with Viso 18th at 166.328 mph (22.1851 seconds). In the second session, Sato, who only ran nine laps because of extremely poor track conditions, had the team's fastest speed at 166.540 mph (22.1568 seconds) placing him fourth on the practice report. Kanaan, 13 laps, was second fastest and 11th on the speed charts with a lap of 164.261 mph (22.4642 seconds) while Viso, 38 laps, was 22nd overall at 155.287 mph (23.7625 seconds).

TheMoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 will be broadcast live, Sunday, August 14 on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET

The start of today's race was moved ahead by 30 minutes due to the threat of rain, which did materialize causing two extended caution periods.

Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, who contested his first race at New Hampshire, qualified eighth. He engaged in several spirited battles during the early part of the race and in the end won most of them climbing to fifth place prior to the first round of pit stops. Having saved fuel, he was able to go one lap further than the leaders and after the first stop Sato was in second place. He ran in second for much of the second stint, which included a long caution for rain. Following the restart at the end of the rain caution there was a second caution followed by a restart. During the second restart, Sato became entangled with race leader Dario Franchitti. The contact damaged Sato's right front tire and front wing. Two pit stops later his car was functional, if not in perfect condition, and Sato resumed the battle now in eighth place, but still on the lead lap. He battled throughout the remainder of the contest and actually took the lead for several laps when he was able to remain on track because of the extra fuel he got during the stop for repairs. Following his fourth and final stop, Sato was running in seventh place, when there was a second caution for rain. With rain still falling and track conditions borderline at best, officials ordered a questionable restart which resulted in several cars colliding. Sato was in the middle of the melee and knocked out of the race. However, race officials immediately threw a red flag, which reverted the field to the positions the drivers held two laps prior to the restart placing Sato seventh.

"At the start of the race we had three consecutive restarts. It was very crowded, but I had some exciting battles where at first I lost, but in the end I gained positions. Then during the first stint I raced hard and gained some places on track, which was very exciting and at the same time I saved fuel, so I was able to go one more lap and I moved into second place. Then there was a restart, which was quickly followed by another caution and a restart. During that second restart I got tangled with Dario (Franchitti) and I had to come into the pits for repairs. After that the car was still slightly damaged, but I was able to push really hard and fight for position. At the end of the race there was a caution for rain and during the restart the track was very slippery. Just before we crossed the start/finish line there was an accordion and a big crash. I am really disappointed to finish the race this way."

Sato picked up 26 points today and is now 10th in the standings with 238 points. The 34-year-old from Japan has finished in the top-10 six times this year including scoring his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (career-high fourth at Mid-Ohio, fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas). On ovals, he has earned three top-10 finishes (oval career-high fifth at Texas race No. 1, seventh at New Hampshire and an eighth at Milwaukee) and led his first oval laps, seven, at Iowa (led x laps here today).

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, also making his first start at New Hampshire, began the day 17th on the grid. He had a tire problem during his first stint, but persevered and held position. During his second and third stints he drove a smart patient race and avoided the problems that many drivers experienced during restart. Battling throughout the contest he worked his way into the top-10 getting as high as eighth, but a penalty for passing the lead car during the yellow dropped him back to 12th.

"Unfortunately, I had a problem during my first stint with my tires," Viso said. "After the first pit stop the car was good, but we had a long way to fight back through the field. The PDVSA – KVRT – Lotus crew did a great job on the stops and I was able to stay free of any trouble and pass some cars on track. We got ourselves in a position to finish in the top-8, however, after the accident that happened during the restart when the track was wet, the officials made a decision to revert the field back to the order we were in prior to the restart, so I ended up 12th.

Viso scored 18 points today and is now 21st in the standings with 180 points, The 26-year-old Venezuelan has finished in the top-10 three times this year, twice on ovals, a season-high seventh in race one at Texas and 10th in the second. His best road/street course finish is ninth at Toronto. Viso's IndyCar career-high finish is a third on the oval at Iowa last year.

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, who like his teammates competed at New Hampshire for the first time, started a season-high tying third. He dropped to sixth during the first stint, but was having a very strong race. Kanaan was in 10th place following the first pit stop, but shortly after the restart following the rain caution, Kanaan went to pass Marco Andretti, who was a lap down, on the low line while Tomas Scheckter attempted to pass Andretti on the high side. Scheckter and Andretti made contact sending Scheckter sliding across the track directly into the path of a helpless Kanaan. The resulting contact knocked both cars out of the race ending Kanaan's race.

"You've got to ask Marco and Scheckter what they were thinking... I was on the inside and all of a sudden I got collected. I don't know who hit who where, but they gotta have something to explain. When a car is a lap down, they shouldn't be racing the cars that are on the lead lap. I'm glad that I'm ok, but I'm upset for the GEICO – KVRT – Lotus guys... The car was not the fastest car out there today, but there were still important points for us. Let's move on."

Kanaan earned 12 points for his effort today and is now fifth in the championship race with 295 points, 13 points out of fourth. The 36-year-old Brazilian leads KVRT – Lotus with eight top-10 finishes including six top-five showings and two podiums (second at Iowa and third at St. Petersburg) in 13 races (Texas two starts). In six oval events this year Kanaan has earned three top-five finishes with one podium (Indy 500, fourth; Texas race No. 2, fifth and Iowa, second) and led 58 laps (Milwaukee, 33 and Iowa, 25).

KVRT – Lotus has been exceptionally competitive on ovals this year. In the six oval races contested so far this year, counting Texas as two starts, KVRT – Lotus has finished in the top-10 eight times (Sato four times, Kanaan three, Viso once), including four top-five showings (Kanaan three, Sato once) and one podium performance (Kanaan's second place showing at Iowa). In three short oval races the team has led laps in all three events, 33 at Milwaukee (all by Kanaan), 32 at Iowa (Kanaan, 25, Sato 7) and 13 at New Hampshire (all by Sato), however late race incidents have foiled their chances at a victory and limited their results to two top-10 finishes, an eighth at Milwaukee (Sato) and a second at Iowa (Kanaan).

Sato, No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus, started ninth and drove a smart, patient race then on the final restart following a caution used an outstanding restart to put him in fourth. Sato made his second appearance at Mid-Ohio. In his debut here last year he qualified a season-high third, but following an incident, finished 25th. The fourth place finish surpasses a pair of fifth place performances earlier this year to establish a new IndyCar career-high.

"I am very pleased with today's result," Sato said. "It has been a tough weekend and considering the circumstances we achieved the best result possible. The warm-up this morning was not particularly easy for me, but we came back in the race. We got a very solid job from the engineering staff and a great performance by the crew during pit stops. I was patient all through the race and saved my resources until I needed them. I made some positions up on the last restart, which was exciting and the key the result. In the end, to be able to challenge the top-three and finish in fourth hopefully will give us some momentum."

Sato picked up 32 points today and is now 12th in the standings with 212 points, just nine points out of 10th. The 34-year-old from Japan, in just his second IndyCar season is having a breakout year. He as finished in the top-10 five times this year including scoring his first three IndyCar top-five finishes (today's fourth along with fifths at St. Petersburg and Texas. In addition to earning his first top-five finishes, he has captured his first pole, at Iowa, (got his second at Edmonton) and led his first IndyCar race, at Brazil (subsequently led two more races, Iowa and Edmonton). Sato has been strong on street and road circuits this year. He has the fourth here at Mid-Ohio, the fifth at St. Petersburg, the eighth at Brazil, the pole at Edmonton and has had strong performances at Barber, Long Beach and Edmonton nullified by incidents.

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, had an equally, if not more impressive race than Sato. Starting 16th, he was running in 14th when the first round of pits stops began. The stop occurred during a caution, which at Mid-Ohio, with its small pit boxes always presents a problem. As a result, Kanaan rejoined the race in 18th place. During the ensuing restart, he did a spectacular job picking up five places and a total of seven positions over the next 10 laps. Kanaan ran in 11th place until the final caution where he once again demonstrated his mastery of the restart moving up additional six spots into fifth where he remained until the end of the race. Kanaan, who was made his 10th start at Mid-Ohio today (five in CART and five in IndyCar), has now finished in the top-10 six times with a best showing of fourth also in 2007.

"I can't complain about a top-five finish, but we should've been better," Kanaan said. "We lost too much time and positions in the pits for the second race in a row. That makes things difficult to make up at the track. But, it was a solid result for the GEICO - KVRT - Lotus team and also for Taku's team with a fourth-place finish."

Kanaan earned 30 points today and is now fourth in the standings with 283 points. The veteran of 14 seasons (10 in the IndyCar series) and perennial championship contender is having his best season in three years. Kanaan has been the model of consistency in leading the team with eight top-10 finishes including six top-five showings and two podiums (second at Iowa and third at St. Petersburg) in 12 races (Texas two starts). The 36-year-old Brazilian has been extremely competitive on the road/street circuits this season finishing in the top-10 in five of the seven races including three top-five finishes and a podium (St. Petersburg, third; Edmonton, fourth; Barber, sixth and Long Beach, eighth).

Viso, No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, started 12th and was running in 10th after the first lap. He held station until the first pit stop. However, shortly after the restart Viso was forced off the track and by the time he rejoined, was in 24th place. Viso spent the remainder of the race fighting his way back to 15th despite having to save fuel throughout the final stint. Viso contested his fourth race at Mid-Ohio today. He equaled his best finish, 15th which he first achieved in 2009.

"Unfortunately the contact with J.R. Hildebrand messed up my result today," Viso said. "I was running in a good position behind Sato, when suddenly J.R. who was a few positions behind, came in from the outside causing me to lose positions as I braked hard to avoid contact with him. We had a pretty good start and I was following Takuma through my first stint and things were looking good until then. I was able to gain some places back but the last 20 laps were very tricky because I had to save a lot of fuel. This is not something we deserve after such a good weekend. We put so much effort in and it paid off for the team with Takuma's fourth and Tony's fifth place finish."

Viso scored 15 points in today's race and is now 20th in the standings with 162 points. The 26-year-old Venezuelan has finished in the top-10 three times this year including a season-high seventh in the first race in Texas (finished 10th in the second ) and a road/street course season-high ninth in Toronto. Viso's career best finish on a street/road course is fourth at St. Petersburg in 2008 (overall career-high, third in Iowa). Viso has had several strong efforts on both street/road circuits and ovals negated by a string of misfortune that included a punctured tire at St. Petersburg, getting hit by another competitor at Barber, a questionable blocking penalty at Brazil, an incident at Milwaukee and two punctured tires at Toronto.

Next up for KVRT – Lotus is the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225, August 11-14, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The race will be broadcast live, Sunday, August 14 on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET