Simona Qualifies For Texas

FT. WORTH, June 4, 2010: Everything is bigger in Texas and for today that also included the temperature at the Texas Motor Speedway (TMS). The field of IZOD IndyCar Series drivers arrived today at TMS and were immediately greeted by scorching temperatures that hovered around the 88 degree mark. With Practice and Qualifying scheduled for today, in preparation for tomorrow’s Firestone 550K night race, it was going to be a challenge for Team Stargate Worlds/HVM Racing rookie driver Simona De Silvestro to combat the heat and focus on the sessions. Never one to back down from a challenge, and having excelled at every challenge thrown at her in her rookie season thus far, Simona was ready to put her #78 Stargate Resistance car on the track for the day’s activities.

Having never run a single lap at TMS, Simona used most of the 1 hour practice session getting acquainted with the track. Track time was limited by various yellow flags; however, Simona took full advantage of the down time by working with her engineer on setting up the car and understanding the track’s dynamics. By the end of the session Simona had run 44 laps, with her fastest lap time of 212.719 mph being run on lap # 16, which put her 25th on the timesheets.

Qualifying saw the air temperature peak at around 95 degrees. Qualifying in the 10th place order, she climbed into her #78 Dallara/Honda machine and hurried herself around the 1.5 mile steeped banked track. She carved around the track with her first lap speed being 211.05 mph, while her second lap speed was 211.372 mph, her third lap speed was 211.339 mph and finally her last lap was clocked at 211.396 mph. Her average lap speed was 211.289 mph, which put her in the 10th spot. At the conclusion of qualifying, Simona’s qualification effort ended up being finalized in the 26th spot.

The day’s activities concluded when Simona participated in the day’s last practice session. Running a total of 37 laps, she posted a fast speed of 212.741 mph which was good enough for 17th on the timesheets.

The Firestone 550K race will be broadcast live on Versus at 8:00 pm (EST). Live Timing and Scoring, along with Video feeds, will be provided at www.indycar.com. In addition, the IMS Radio Network and XM Channel 145 and Sirius Channel 221 will be airing the race.

Simona De Silvestro, Driver No. 78 - “It’s not the way we expected things to go today with our qualifying session, however, we are making the car better and better and I think the last practice session shows that. We’ll have a competitive car for tomorrow’s race and I’m looking forward to my first race at this track.”

Keith Wiggins, HVM Racing Team Principal – “Having had quick performances so far this year, it is disappointing when you have a day like today. It is a reminder that we are still in a building year together. However, I am sure we will be much better in the race, as we started to see in this evening’s session.”

Imran Safiulla, Team Stargate Worlds Principal - “It was tough day for us. With the very limited track time and Simona having never been here, we did not get off to a good start. We had the ability to improve the car in the last session and that will certainly help for the race tomorrow.”