De Silvestro had a solid four-lap run with an average speed of 225.400 on her first qualifying run of the day. Kanaan followed with a qualifying run that averaged 226.949 putting him in 7th place at the time. Unfortunately, faster cars followed dropping the Brazilian to 12th on the starting grid for next Sunday’s race.

“This place is unbelievable,” Kanaan said. “I always have such a good experience with the fans here. About my run, I think we were a bit conservative thinking that we would have more time during the day to try another shot after getting comfortably in the show. But I won’t complain about starting 12th because I don’t think that we had it for the pole, but like I always say, it’s not about where you start this race, it’s how you race it to the end. We will go back to race trim tomorrow and get the #11 HYDROXYCUT Chevy Firestone ready for the one that counts on Sunday.”

De Silvestro’s road through qualifying was a bit more stressful than Kanaan’s. After a quick practice run during a break in qualifying, De Silvestro’s 22nd place time was pulled so that she could try to improve her position. She ended up posting an average speed of 225.226 which while slower than her first run was still good enough for 24th and final position of the day.

“I think we kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little bit by withdrawing our first time,” De Silvestro said.  “I’m pretty sure we had the speed to be a little bit faster, be even higher up there, but then we picked the wrong gear and that made us a little bit slower, which made everything a little bit more exciting. The race car was really good, but I think there was some more speed in it. I’m just happy to be in the race. Hopefully we can work on the race car for the race from now on so that we have a great race.”

Team co-owner Jimmy Vasser was hoping for a better qualifying result, but was happy that both cars made it into the field today so that the team could turn its focus to race setup. “I wish we had both cars in the fast nine as Chevrolet definitely seemed to be the power plant of the day,” he said. “However we didn’t have the cars to do this. We have been concentrating mainly this week on race setup and I believe both Tony and Simona will have good cars for the race next weekend.”

Kanaan and De Silvestro will be back on track tomorrow morning for practice at 9:00 a.m. ET in preparation for next Sunday’s 97th Indianapolis 500 which will air live on ABC starting at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work as planned. Kanaan ran out of fuel on lap 51 just as he was scheduled to make a pit stop and De Silvestro, despite passing several cars on her final stint, finished 8th as the yellows didn’t work in her favor.

De Silvestro ran a solid race, but felt she had the potential to finish higher. “I think it was a really good race,” she said. “We had to save fuel on the strategy we ran and with the yellows we got stuck behind slower traffic. The last stint we could go hard and we passed a lot of cars. That was a lot of fun. I wish the whole race would have been like that. I think it was good, but I think it would have been better if we had come in and got some more fuel to run harder. The car was on rails on blacks and on reds, so that was a lot of fun. It was a pretty good ending even though I think we had a chance to finish a little higher. I’m happy with my second straight top-ten finish.”

Steve Moore, team manager, thought De Silvestro drove a great race, but was disappointed with Kanaan’s result. “A great day for the 78 car,” he said. “Simona drove a great race, starting eighth and finishing P8. It’s always great to finish in the top-ten. It’s disappointing on the 11 car. Having a miscalculation and always having difficulty finding telemetry at this track, the two combined together resulted in us running out of fuel on track. Obviously it was very disappointing for Tony in front of his home crowd.”

Kanaan chose to look on the positive side of the day. “It’s hard to find some words to explain the whole situation,” he said, “but I must say that we won and lost together. We don’t know what exactly happen, but we’re looking at this in a positive way; we had the opportunity to win and were competitive throughout the weekend. I would love to win in my hometown and I have to thank everyone for the kindness I received during the race; it was something indescribable. For sure we know that are going strong to the Indianapolis 500″.

Jimmy Vasser, team co-owner, was extremely disappointed for Kanaan and his sponsors and is looking into the cause of the No. 11’s fuel issue. “Very, very disappointing for Tony Kanaan in his home Grand Prix while representing the race sponsor Itaipava,” Vasser said. “I think the fans had a good show; they knew we were here. What happened on our fuel calculations…we ran the car out of fuel, there’s no doubt about that. But, our alarms didn’t go off and our numbers showed that we should have had a gallon in the car at that time. I’ve called for a full detailed report of the sequence of events that led to the car running out of fuel. Until I have that from the team when we get back I can’t speculate on exactly where the problem happened. But, all-in-all I think they knew we were here.

Vasser goes on to say, “Simona had good pace all weekend; maybe not the race she would like to have had with the way the strategy played out. But, we put it behind us and we go to the biggest event of the year, the Indianapolis 500. I think we’re well prepared for that and I’m just looking forward to getting on to the next one.”

The team heads back to Indy tonight to regroup and finish preparations for the Indianapolis 500. The Greatest Spectacle in Racing airs live on ABC Sunday, May 26^th beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Kanaan started qualifying by finishing third in Group 1 and easily advancing into the Top-12. He topped the leader-board in round two and moved on to the Fast Six with his final qualifying run placing him fourth for the start of his home race tomorrow.

“It was a great team effort by KV,” Kanaan said. “We had a great car from the get go, but there was no way I could beat those guys that had sticker reds during the Fast Six. It was a disadvantage not having the new Firestones, but you know, they got it by luck because of how their qualifying group went on. I’m happy. This is my home race; we have the fans cheering and the backing from my local sponsor. Starting in fourth on a street course is not bad at all and I think it’s going to be weird seeing just three cars in front of me at the start of my 200^th consecutive race.”

De Silvestro also advanced easily out of the first-round by finishing first in Group 2. However, she was unable to transfer from the Top-12 to the Fast Six due to a mistake on her fast lap.

“I think we had a pretty strong car,” she said, “but I don’t feel like we got a really good lap out of it because there at the end Viso got in our way. He kind of stopped and I thought I was going to gap so that I could get an extra lap and then he went around the corner and totally slowed down into turn one so we didn’t get those two laps. It was really frustrating because he was on a straightaway and he knows he was slow. But, we start eighth and I think we can be ok with that. I think we’ll definitely have a little bit more tires than the six guys in front of us, so hopefully we can make some positions up and go race. I feel like we’re pretty strong overall so hopefully it’ll be a good race tomorrow.

Steve Moore, team manager, was disappointed with De Silvestro not making the Fast Six, but happy overall with the team’s qualifying results. “It was a great day for KV Racing,” Moore said. “Having both drivers in the top eight is a good achievement. They both have great starting spots tomorrow. It was a little disappointing with Simona not making it through to the top six; we feel like we got blocked a couple of times. However, we’ve got two cars starting in the top eight which is good and we have two solid race cars, so we’re looking for great results tomorrow.”

Don’t miss the fun! Tune in tomorrow and see if the KV Racing drivers can capitalize on their good starting positions and capture their first podiums of the season. The Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle, on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil, will be televised live at 11 a.m. (ET) by the NBC Sports Network and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211 and www.indycar.com.

While Kanaan didn’t have the result he was looking for, Simona De Silvestro, driver of the No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car, had a great result moving up ten positions from her starting spot of 19^th on the grid to finish in 9^th place.

It looked like it was going to be another disappointing day for De Silvestro when she made contact in the opening laps with Sebastian Saavedra damaging her front wing.  The crew was able to replace the wing during a pit stop while under yellow flag on lap 4, but the unexpected stop dropped the Swiss driver to 24^th. De Silvestro slowly worked her way back through the field and was able to push hard an extra couple of laps past when most of the other competitors made their stops, catching a break when a yellow flag came out again. Her crew performed a great pit stop, getting her back out in 15^th and enabling her to get back on the same strategy as the race leaders.

“I think it was a good recovery from where we started,” De Silvestro said. “The car was really fast and the guys did a really awesome job in the pits. When we had clean laps we could move forward and made up some positions, so I think P9 is really good for us. Hopefully next time we can start a little more up front and make life a little bit easier. But, I think it was a great weekend for us.”

Team manager, Steve Moore, was pleased with the job De Silvestro and her crew did in today’s race. “It was a great day for the 78 car,” he said. “Simona drove a great race, moving up from P19 to finish inside the top-ten; good result, great drive from her, good result from the team, great pit stops all day, and a good strategy. Ending the race with in the top-ten was a great result.”

Moore however went on to express his disappointment with the final result for the No. 11 car. “It was very disappointing for the No. 11 car,” he said. “Tony was driving a great race and the crew was doing a good job, moving up from a great starting position of eight to inside the top-five, but unfortunately getting taken out at the end of the race. It was a very disappointing end of to the race. But, he obviously showed great pace and we’ll take that with us as we move on to Brazil.”

Kanaan was obviously disappointed as well with the finish. “We had a good race going,” he said, “and I was set for a fifth-place finish until Servia took me out with less than two laps to go. It’s really frustrating… I was the leading Chevy car out there and it was looking like a good points race for us. I’m really disappointed on how it turned out.”

Jimmy Vasser, team co-owner, wasn’t happy with the final result on the No. 11 HYDROXYCUT – KV Racing Technology – SH Racing Chevrolet/Firestone either, but was pleased with De Silvestro’s performance in the No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car. “I’m really disappointed with Tony falling out with two (laps) to go,” he said. “We had a solid top-five and two cars in the top-ten. I’m really, really happy and proud of the way Simona drove today. To put the car up in the top-ten from where she started was a sign of great things to come.”

KV Racing Technology finishes round 3 of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series with De Silvestro 9^th in points while Kanaan drops to 12^th. The team heads home to Indianapolis tonight to begin preparations for their trip to Brazil.

Make sure to tune in to the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 and catch both KV Racing drivers in action as they try to move up the point’s ladder. The race airs on NBC Sports Network and on the IndyCar Radio Network (on Sirius XM Channel 211) beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on May 5^th.

Kanaan, who set the fastest lap in last year’s event, is content with his qualifying results. “We found the right direction on the setup during this morning session and the times showed up in qualifying,” he said. “I know we have a good car for the race tomorrow and starting towards the front will definitely help us fight for a top spot, but I still think it will come down to who manages better their Firestone tires. We’ll make some more tweaks to the car for the morning warm-up and get ready for the green flag tomorrow.”

Simona De Silvestro caught some bad luck towards the end of the first qualifying session as a red flag came out on the tail end of a stint that would have seen a competitive lap time and was unable to edge her No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car into the advancing Top 12. De Silvestro will start tomorrow’s race in the 20^th position.

“It’s really frustrating because we got caught out with the red flag,” Simona said, “You know it is what it is, but I think the car was really good and it’s just unfortunate that we got caught in that. Hopefully we’re going to have a good race tomorrow. I think the car is strong and we should be able to pass some cars and move forward.”

Team Manager Steve Moore said of today’s results, “It was a disappointing day for Simona. She obviously had a really quick car, but unfortunately got caught out with the red flag and was unable to transfer to the top twelve. Tony made it through to the top-twelve, but never got a lap together to transfer to the top-six. All-in-all a little disappointing, but the team’s got good momentum and good cars and tomorrow will be a good day for the team.”

The team looks forward to channeling that momentum into better results tomorrow. The green flag is scheduled to wave at 1:45pm PST with live coverage beginning at 1pm on NBC Sports Network.

Steve Moore, the team’s manager summed it up. “It was a difficult day for KVRT today, with our strategies not really working in our favor,” he said. “Although Tony did make up some spots it obviously wasn’t the end result we were looking for. With Simona, again the strategy didn’t work the way we anticipated. We have a lot of work to do including the crew and our stops. We’ll regroup when we get back to the shop and look forward to Long Beach.”

Kanaan echoed the sentiment. “It was just a long day,” he said. “I started the race on the primary tires in order to get them out of the way and was hoping to get more speed out of the red alternates to pick up some track position, but once I got stuck in traffic in the middle of the pack there was nothing I could do. Lost a handful of spots during our pits and managed to get some of them back at the end of the race, but it was still not our day. Let’s move on to Long Beach in a couple of weeks and focus on getting a better result there.”

Traffic played a big role for De Silvestro as well. “It was a tough race for us,” she said. “We were always in traffic and there was always something going on. At the start I kind of got pushed out and lost a few positions and had to work my way back up. You know we were always fighting with different people and different tires and it was really hard to get by, so we kind of got stuck there and it wasn’t great. But, we’ll go on to the next one and hopefully we’ll be alright there.”

The team heads back to Indianapolis tonight to regroup and start preparations for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach April 19 – 21. The race airs on NBC Sports Network with race coverage starting at 4:00 p.m. ET. For more information on the event and to purchase tickets, go to http://gplb.com/. ]]> http://simonadesilvestro.com/?feed=rss2&p=463 0 http://simonadesilvestro.com/?p=461 http://simonadesilvestro.com/?p=461#comments Sat, 06 Apr 2013 18:14:09 +0000 Trish Donovan http://simonadesilvestro.com/?p=461 Birmingham, AL (Saturday, April 06, 2013) – After running well in all three practice sessions for the weekend KV Racing Technology drivers had high hopes heading into today’s qualifying session. Simona De Silvestro, driver of the No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car just missed moving to the second qualifying session and ultimately qualified 14^th, while veteran Tony Kanaan, driver of the No. 11 Mouser – KV Racing Technology – SH Chevrolet/Firestone car, was disappointed with a 19^th place qualifying.

The day started on a promising note with De Silvestro topping the charts in this morning’s practice. Combined with the fact that the drivers were in different groups, Kanaan in group one and De Silvestro in group two, it looked like the team had a strong chance at getting both drivers into the top six.

For De Silvestro, tire choice seemed to be the determining factor in her disappointment. “On the reds we had a really big balance change,” she said. “It was a really big difference, so we’ll have to try and work on that for tomorrow’s warm-up and the race. I think on the blacks we were really quick; even on the older ones. Hopefully we can make up some positions. It’s really frustrating to be starting more in the back, but I think we can make it happen. We’ll work really hard to go to the front with the Nuclear Clean Air Energy car.

Kanaan was happy with his car, but not with the results. “I’m having a hard time understanding what happened during qualifying,” he said. “My car actually felt good, but when Vasser came on the radio and said I needed another tenth and a half, I thought that I heard something wrong. And on top of that, the times for group two of quals were way slower than group one, which is very strange. Starting back there will make it a long day tomorrow, but I trust the #11 crew, Chevy and Firestone, and we’ll move forward during the race.”

Kanaan, who started 11^th, pushing hard all race and overcame a stall in the final pit stop on his way to his 107^th career top-five finish. His combined streak of consecutive starts, which includes his career in CART and IndyCar is now 197, which currently puts him second in the standings behind KVRT co-owner Jimmy Vasser who has 211 consecutive starts.

Kanaan was pleased with the day’s results. “It’s definitely a good start to the season for everyone at KV Racing, finishing fourth and sixth”, he said. “My car was flawless while on track, the only problem we had during the race was that I couldn’t shift into neutral during my last stop. That cost me three spots on track and made me work a bit more for this fourth place finish. I was impressed that my last set of scuffed red Firestones lasted that long and I can’t say enough about my Chevy engine. It’s unfortunate that Simona couldn’t hold on for third place. She was running strong up front until she had no more tires. She deserved the podium. I guess Marco had a newer set of Firestones than both Simona and I, so it was just a matter of time for him to get by us.”

While not her best finish, De Silvestro who is in her fourth season in the IZOD IndyCar Series and first with KV Racing, did have one of her strongest races running most of the day in third, fourth or fifth place. It looked like she was going to grab her first podium, but with less than 10 laps to go her Firestone reds started to fade. She managed to hold on until the final lap when Marco Andretti, TK and Scott Dixon managed to get past her.

“It’s been a good weekend for us.” De Silvestro said. “Unfortunately we lost a few positions at the end there. We kind of ran out of tires at the end. I think we can be pretty happy with sixth. Now we know what we have to work on for the next race. It was really cool to be up front all day with Will, Hinch and everybody; it was awesome. I think we can learn a lot from this weekend to have a better result at the next race. I really want to thank Chevy and my Nuclear Clean Air Energy sponsors for all their support. I’m really excited to get to Barber and see what we can do there.”

Team owner Kevin Kalkhoven was pleased with the team’s efforts. The first thing is,” he said, “my congratulations to Steve Moore as team manager. He put together a very, very good two team operation in a relatively short period of time. And of course, congratulations to both TK and Simona, they did really well. I’m very proud of the whole operation.”

Jimmy Vasser agrees with his partner. “We’re off to a great start,” he said. “What can you say about TK? He’s a consummate professional. He overcame a stall in the pits that dropped him back a few positions, but he worked his way back through the field. He did a great job today.

Vasser went on to say, “Simona was awesome today. We knew she had it in her and that if we gave her the tools she needed she’d be competitive. It would have been great if she had been able to hang on and finish on the podium, but the last few laps she struggled with grip and couldn’t hold off Marco in the end. I fully expect both of our drivers to be back up front at Barber.”

Team Manager Steve Moore was also proud of his drivers and crew. “It was a good day for KV Racing,” he said. “We’re very excited about the results. We had a couple of issues in the pits, but the drivers and the crews rebounded. It’s not the end result that we wanted, but we’ll take the positives out of it and move on to the next race.”

KVRT drivers will be in action again in two weeks at Barber Motorsports Park. Make sure to tune in and catch TK and Simona in action. The NBCSN broadcast begins at 2:00 p.m. ET with the green flag scheduled to wave at 2:40 p.m.

When asked how much fun she was having, De Silvestro, in her fourth IndyCar season, said, “It’s awesome. The whole weekend has been going really well for us and it’s really cool to finally get the results we wanted. Thanks to KV Racing Technology for giving me the opportunity, and to the whole Nuclear Clean Air Energy campaign for supporting me after the year we had last year. It’s cool to get the results. It’s unbelievable. We were right there with Will and Sato who are usually always up there and it’s fun to be up there with them.”

De Silvestro and teammate Tony Kanaan battled for 3^rd place here in 2011 with Kanaan willing the skirmish and taking the podium, while De Silvestro drove to her best finish of fourth. In eight starts at St. Petersburg, Kanaan has been on pole once (2008) and finished on the podium five times, with his best finish of second in 2005.

Kanaan, who drives the No. 11 Hydroxycut – KV Racing Technology – SH Racing Chevrolet/Firestone entry, always expects to be running up front and was disappointed to not make the Firestone Fast Six today.  “It’s a shame,” he said. “We had very good momentum going on the #11, the Chevy power was great and the Firestone tires help up well. I had a Top-Five car, but we made a minor change between the qualifying sessions that did not go our way, leaving us back in 11th on the grid. Well, tomorrow is another day and I’m sure we’ll be fine when the green flag flies.”

KV Racing team manager Steve Moore is happy with the success the team has shown in the first two days of the season. “A very good day for KV Racing,” Moore said, “everyone’s very excited with the results for the day. Obviously it shows all the team’s hard work and testing through the off season is starting to pay off. We’re just looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully we can carry the momentum the team built over the winter through the rest of the season.”

“I think it was a good day overall,” team co-owner Imran Safiulla said. “We’re very pleased. It was a fantastic job by the boys on the engineering side and Simona did a hell of a job staying composed. This partnership with Chevy has been great for us and we look forward to good things there. We missed a little on the No. 11 car, but I think we’ll be there during race conditions tomorrow. We’re looking forward to hopefully keeping both noses clean and bringing them home.”

Both drivers had a full contingent of sponsors on hand today to cheer them on. Kanaan welcomed new sponsor Hydroxycut and supporters from Entergy, AREVA, and other Nuclear Clean Air sponsors were at the track to cheer De Silvestro’s success.

Kanaan and De Silvestro will make their season debuts tomorrow when the 2013 IZOD IndyCar season kicks off in St. Petersburg, FL. The race will air on NBC Sports Network with coverage starting at noon. The IMS Radio Network will bring the action live to fans. Both the radio broadcast and live timing and scoring can be found on www.indycar.com.  Radio broadcast can also be heard on XM Radio 211/Sirius Radio 211.

Several members of the team including three of the team’s engineers, spent time interacting with the students as they rotated through the different stations set up for the tour. The stations included explained aerodynamics, fuel, the gearbox, shocks, the chassis, the cockpit and the engine as well as the engineering aspect of racing. Team members encouraged students to ask questions and help with demonstrations by awarding trading cards depicting parts of the car. The student with the highest engagement level and having earned the most cards received a small prize to reward their efforts.

“We were excited to have the physics students visit the KV Racing Technology race shop to learn about how science is instrumental to success in our sport,” said Eric Cowdin, the team’s Technical Director. “We were able to help educate them on the importance of science, technology, engineering and math in a fun environment that allowed them to see up-close a product that was produced through a significant use of STEM. Hopefully this experience will help motivate them to pursue a higher level of STEM education and to possibly explore related career opportunities.”

Firestone Racing sent senior compounder Dennis Boley to educate the students about the physics surrounding tires in a racing environment as it compares to a typical street car tire. “Firestone Racing has always been a strong supporter of community activities, especially when given the opportunity to instill an interest in science and technology in younger generations,” Boley said. “With the STEM tours graciously provided by KV Racing Technology, the high school students were able to take lessons from the classroom and see how they can be applied to real-world situations. We believe there is no better learning tool. Combined with the excitement of the IZOD IndyCar Series, I’m sure the students had an eye-opening experience and I hope we inspired some future race team or tire engineers.”

Physics teacher Amy Hayworth was a driving force behind the tours. “I wanted to visit and work with KV Racing to try and infuse the community into our learning and classroom,” she said. “It is important for our students to be able to ‘see’ where the science is in the ‘real-world’ and why it is important. I also wanted them to see what opportunities are available out there for students to be involved in the community and science, not necessarily a ‘scientist in a lab’ type idea. They were very excited with all the ‘hands-on’ tasks and ideas. The more they ‘do’ the more they ‘learn.’”

STEM education is a key component of the Nuclear Clean Air Energy IndyCar sponsorship. Sponsor members, Entergy, AREVA, Inc., and NEI are working diligently through their support of the Nuclear Clean Air Energy national education initiative to raise the visibility of STEM education as a much needed skill set that will better equip our children and country for the future. The #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy IndyCar brings national and global visibility to the initiative. Other elements of the campaign’s educational effort include Power Path, a curriculum for middle and high schools; promotion of educational events; and relationships with national organizations that promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics to students with a focus on careers in the sciences.

KVRT plans additional STEM outreach events throughout 2013 at their Indianapolis shop and at various educational institutions across the country in conjunction with other race-weekend activities. While the team will kick off the 2013 IZOD IndyCar season next month in St. Petersburg, FL, their outreach program will make its first stop at an event at the University of Florida on March 19th.