Sato Scales Iowa Qualifying for First INDYCAR Pole

Photo Credit: Chris Jones

After a hard-knock rookie year that resulted in the former Formula 1 driver crashed out 10 times through the 17-race 2010 IZOD INDYCAR Series season, Japan's Takuma Sato and KV Racing Technology entered 2011 ready to embrace a better on-track performance. Starting the season off with a 5th place finish on the Streets of St Petersburg event wheeling the #5 KV Racing Technology car, Sato also enjoyed some success on the Milwaukee Mile oval. Finishing 8th in the event, Takuma Sato overcame being faulted for contact with a crew member in pit lane. In the time trials for the Iowa Corn Indy 250, Sato's transition from the Formula 1 world championship to the IZOD INDYCAR tour involved a major progression. Lapping the 7/8 mile Iowa Speedway in 35.6857 seconds, sophomore driver Takuma Sato stormed a surprise pole position.

Takuma Sato's top qualifying effort came hours before a collision on track. During IZOD INDYCAR Series practice, Sato and the #77 Sam Schmidt Racing of Alex Tagliani collided. "I was approaching on the outside at a much greater closing speed because I think (Tagliani) was just coming out of the pits." Sato said regarding the accident. Alex Tagliani said overwards that the #5 car didn't gave enough room on the oval disappointed for his team.

While the presence of Takuma Sato on the pole served as unusual, the entire Friday evening qualifying session for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 took on an interesting complexion. Starting with Sato on the front row is Andretti Autosport driver Danica Patrick who was little more than 3/100th of a second slower than the #5 KV Racing Technology car. For Patrick and the #7 Godaddy.com Dallara-Honda, this is the 29 year old's highest starting spot since Homestead of 2008.

Starting directly behind his teammate, Tony Kanaan continues to the #82 Geico-sponsored KV Racing Technology race car a week after a near victory at the Milwaukee Mile. Driving for Andretti Autosport last season, Kanaan captured the win at Iowa Speedway for the team's second and final 2010 series victory.

Behind 4th place starting JR Hildebrand, Penske Racing's Will Power secured a row three starting spot for the Saturday night event. After being considered a road course warrior only, Power has been vastly improved in oval racing competition. At Iowa Speedway, Will Power has a 5th place finish in 2010 and a 9th place result during the 2008 season when he drove for KV Racing Technology.

Tied in the 2011 IZOD INDYCAR overall standings with Will Power heading into Iowa, Dario Franchitti will roll off beside his #12 car rival. James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Mike Conway and Ryan Briscoe rounds out the top-10 in qualifying for the Iowa Corn Indy 250. Only 3/10th of a second separated pole sitter Takuma Sato and 10th place Ryan Briscoe in qualifying.

Two events of note is the presence of one front-running competitor in the rear and another series favourite on the sidelines. Almost spinning out in qualifying, the #9 car of Scott Dixon will be third to last in the starting lineup. "We are just way too loose and it was not what we're looking for." the New Zealand drive said as he prepares to launch from a 23rd place position.

Not racing at the Saturday night event on the Iowa Speedway oval will be Simona de Silvestro. The Swiss driver appeared at the race track Friday but did not receive medical clearance to drive for this IZOD INDYCAR Series event. Having undergone the standard IMPACT test, INDYCAR Medical Director Dr. Michael Olinger noted that de Silvestro was showing post-concussion symptoms following a practice crash in Milwaukee qualifying this week. Following de Silvestro's evaluation, her HVM Racing team decided to head back to their race shop and sit out the Iowa event.

Unleashing the 25-car IZOD INDYCAR Series field, the Iowa Corn Indy 250 is set to roll at 8pm Saturday night.

 

Qualifying ResultsIowa Speedway

1. 5 Takuma Sato/Japan/ KV Racing Technology
2. 7 Danica Patrick/United States/ Andretti Autosport
3. 82 Tony Kanaan/Brazil/ KV Racing Technology
4. 4 JR Hildebrand/United States/ Panther Racing
5. 12 Will Power/Australia/ Penske Racing
6. 10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
7. 06 James Hinchcliffe/Canada/ Newman/Haas Racing
8. 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States/Andretti Autosport
9. 27 Mike Conway/England/Andretti Autosport
10. 6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia/ Penske Racing
11. 2 Oriol Servia/Spanish/ Newman/Haas Racing
12. 22 Justin Wilson/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
13. 3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil/ Penske Racing
14. 67 Ed Carpenter/United States/Sarah Fisher Racing
15. 77 Alex Tagliani/Canada/ Sam Schmidt Racing
16. 14 Vitor Meira/Brazil/ AJ Foyt Racing Enterprises
17. 26 Marco Andretti/United States/ Andretti Autosport
18. 24 Ana Beatriz/Brazil/ Dreyer & Reinbold
19. 58 EJ Viso/Venezuela/ KV Racing Technology
20. 38 Graham Rahal/United States/Chip Ganassi Racing
21. 83 Charlie Kimball/United States/ Chip Ganassi Racing
22. 19 Alex Lloyd/England/Dale Coyne Racing
23. 9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
24. 18 James Jakes/England/ Dale Coyne Racing
25. 34 Sebastian Saavedra/Columbia/ Conquest Racing

78 Simona de Silvestro/Switzerland/ HVM Racing (Car withdrew following driver de Silvestro not receiving medical clearance to compete)

Iowa Corn Indy 250

Pos | Car #  | Driver/ Nationality/ Team

Mario Moraes Added to KV as Last Minute Addition to 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series

Photo Credit: IndyCar Media

KV Racing Technology has resigned Brazilian Mario Moraes just in time for the Sao Paulo, Brazil street race proceeding this weekend as the 2010 IZOD IndyCar season opener. Assigned to drive the #32 Banco Panamericano for the full 2010 schedule, a joyous Moraes commented in the team release saying "Being in the car to start the season is very important for me especially since the first race is in my hometown. KVRT is one of the best teams in the IZOD IndyCar Series and I am looking forward to working with everyone on the team again. Hopefully we can continue the success we enjoyed at the end of last season.".

A student in world racing at a young age, Mario Moraes' not so distant youth consisted of experience in British F3 and FTR 1600. Spending two seasons in the IndyCar Series driving first for Dale Coyne Racing in 2008, Moraes found his competitive footing during the last part of the 2009 schedule with KV Racing Technologies. Garnering 3 top-5 finishes in the final 4 races of 2009, Mario Moraes prospects in the IZOD IndyCar Series appeared promising following the Homestead-Miami Speedway finale with KV Racing Technology rumoured to resign him for 2010. However, as months went by, KV Racing Technology added some confusion to Moraes situation by hiring EJ Viso and Takuma Sato last month. To the relief of Moraes, KV Racing Technology added a third car as team General Manager Mark Johnson explains. "Mario showed last season he can be very competitive and is in the process of becoming one of the top talents in the series."
The 11th hour announcement regarding Mario Moraes is the 5th driver to be named to a full-time IndyCar ride through the past 11 days. With IZOD IndyCar practice and qualifying for the inaugural Indy 300 on the streets of Sao Paulo scheduled Saturday, expect the field for the open wheel driver/team lineup to be well-established for 2010.

KV Racing Adds EJ Viso to 2010 IndyCar Series Lineup

Entering into the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series, KV Racing Technology cars will be piloted two fresh faces to the team. On Monday, KV Racing named EJ Viso to the 2010 driver roster joining the already-announced Takuma Sato. Having been named to test for the KV Racing Technology just a week ago, news of EJ Viso's 2010 plans in IndyCar come hardly as a surprise. Viso's addition to the team also coincided with KV Racing naming several new sponsors that included at least three companies tied to Viso home country of Venezuela. It's fair to say that Viso's presence made this sponsorship possible.

The 24 year-old EJ Viso briefly resided as a test driver in Formula 1 for the now-defunct Spyker MF1 Team. While Viso formative years involved stints in GP2 and British Formula 3, he was no stranger to the United States racing stage. Amongst his leading career achievement to date is the East division champion in the Skip Barber Formula Dodge series in 2001.

Having spent two eventful seasons with IndyCar team HVM, EJ Viso earned a devious reputation in his rookie season as being somewhat reckless. However, Viso was also seen for being a super fast drivers. In his first season, Viso posted his career best finish in only his 2nd race, a 4th on the Streets of St Petersburg. While earning the valuable respect of competitors in his second season, the HVM racing effort nested only a single top 10 finish for 2009 with a 7th place at Waltkins Glen.

Already signing two drivers for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series, a notable absence is KV Racing's driver for the past two seasons Mario Moraes. Either KV Racing Technology will add a third car to the lineup or Moraes will be looking elsewhere with time ticking away on the start of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series on the Streets of Sao Paulo in less than three weeks.

Ex F1 driver Sato to wheel KV Racing's IndyCar effort

After a month of speculation, KV Racing Technology has named former Formula 1 pilot Takuma Sato as a newcomer to the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series. Announced in time for an open IndyCar test slated for last week at Barber Motorsport Park, KV Racing Technology co-owner Jimmy Vasser expresses that Sato's knowledge and experience will be a valued asset through this new relationship.

Having started in 90 Formula 1 races for Jordan, BAR, Honda and finally Super Aguri, (the most F1 starts for any Japanese driver) Sato's best career effort came at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where he finished 3rd in the US Grand Prix. In May 2010, Sato will return to the track to race on the more traditional 2.5 mile oval rather than the improvised road course for the Indy 500.

As a Japanese driver will has exclusively supported the effort of Honda Racing, it might be fair to say that the sole engine supplier to the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series might have been able to assist with networking one of their home country's most successful drivers with a team Spending 2009 as a healthy scratch from the grand prix grid, Takuma Sato declares it ".. a very exciting time for me and my supporters" claiming to look forward to the new challenge.

KV Racing Technology has been mentioned as a multi-car team for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar series with last year's driver Mario Moraes all-but confirmed to be joining Sato with the race team.