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Lotus in the Peak |
28th - 30th June 2024 |
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Showing results for tags 'Milwaukee Mile'.
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IZOD IndyCar driver Simona De Silvestro challenged the back of the field today at the Milwaukee Mile during qualification for tomorrow's Milwaukee IndyFest. The Swiss pilot of the #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car was less than a five-tenths of a second behind Charlie Kimball who qualified 21st and even closer to Oriol Servia's and Ed Carpenter's qualifying times. The team has struggled all season with horsepower issues and is extremely excited to be gaining ground on the other engine manufacturers. HVM Racing is the lone remaining team running the Lotus engine and has been at a disadvantage early on due to the manufacturer's late arrival to the series. De Silvestro and the team have managed to keep competitive on road and street courses, but have had difficulties staying competitive on ovals. De Silvestro was pleased with today's result. "I'm pretty happy to have out-qualified someone," she said. "I think we have a really good race car. We worked a lot and I think it's pretty impressive because we didn't come here and test. So I'm happy about that. We're just working on a good basic for tomorrow. Maybe we can get off-strategy a little bit so we can move forward and then I think we can run there. I don't think we'll be able to pass anyone, but I think we can definitely run with people and stay with people, so that's the important thing." Today's performance offers De Silvestro, the team, the manufacturer and the sponsors a glimpse of a more competitive second half of the season. Tom Brown, Lotus HVM Racing's technical director was proud of the effort given by the entire team. "I'm very, very impressed with Sim and the guys for putting this car together the way they did and engineering it," he said. "No testing, just turning up and spending an hour, hour and a half, and putting it as close as we did to some of these guys ahead of us. Given our situation, where we are, we're doing a heck of a job." Team Manager Shane Seneviratne summed up the day. "We had a really good car," he said. "Our lap times are very close. With the deficiency we have with the horsepower I think the team is quite pleased to be competitive." Tomorrow's Milwaukee IndyFest airs on ABC with coverage starting at noon Eastern.
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- Simona De Silvestro
- Milwaukee Mile
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The IZOD IndyCar teams and drivers are on the road again for a fourth week in a row. The next stop will be West Allis, Wisconsin, at the historic Milwaukee Mile for the Milwaukee IndyFest. It has been a long-standing tradition for IndyCar to go to Milwaukee. As Paul Newman used to say, back in 1969 “We always go to Milwaukee after Indy”. The Milwaukee Mile is the oldest operating motor speedway in the world. It’s been around since 1903. This is where 1992 Formula One world champion and Lotus legend Nigel Mansell won his first oval race, back in 1993. Last year IndyCar champion, Dario Franchitti (#10 – Target Chip Ganassi Racing) won the race here from pole. The drivers put on a great show at Texas and plan on doing the same here at the Milwaukee Mile. Graham Rahal (#38 – Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing) came close to winning in Texas, but was overtaken by Justin Wilson (#18 – Dale Coyne Racing) just two laps before the end, after brushing the Turn 4 wall. "I saw guys going forward like crazy one stint, next stint they were falling back like crazy, and I was one of them,” said Rahal. “That's phenomenal. That's the way it should be. That's the way it used to be. We put on some great shows so far this year, and we need to keep that buzz going. And ultimately, the goal is to put more butts in the seats out there, and more eyes on the TV. If racing like this keeps helping it, then I'm all for it.” All the IndyCar drivers agree that tyres will be a big factor again this weekend, just as they were in Texas. This year’s new car is tougher on the rear tyres on ovals, it wears them out faster. However, other factors come into play on this short oval such as the wind, the engineering. “The engineers make the difference here,” said British driver Katherine Legge (#6 - TrueCar Dragon Racing), who made history here at the Mile. Legge was the first woman to have led race laps here in 2006. It was her first time on an oval and she finished sixth. “On ovals, how good you are is dependant on how good your car is. The engineers definitely earn their money on ovals.” Lotus HVM Racing is looking forward to a better result this weekend, as the #78 Lotus machine did not turn one racing lap in Texas because of a fuel pressure problem. With the new exhaust system in place last weekend, the Lotus car was showing great improvement. The Lotus HVM hopes to take that momentum forward. Simona De Silvestro, the driver of the #78 Lotus car has been around this famed oval a few times and is hoping to cash in on her experience at Milwaukee. "Let's just see what we can do in Milwaukee. We're going to work hard to have a good car and see what we can end up with. Hopefully we'll finish with a good result at the end of the weekend!” The weather forecast for the weekend is good so far, with no rain expected on race day. That’s a good thing, as IndyCars do not race on ovals when it rains. Milwaukee Mile Circuit length: 1-mile oval Laps: 225 Miles: 225 Front and back straights: 1,265 feet Banking of straightaways: 2.5 degrees Banking of turns: 9.25 degrees Width: 70 feet