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Race report

Simona De Silvestro finishes 11th in Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

De Silvestro drove a smart, patient and consistent race taking advantage of her opportunities, Kanaan had a problem following his final pit stop and placed 24th.

Simona de Silvestro, KV Racing

Simona de Silvestro, KV Racing

Michael C. Johnson

LEXINGTON, OH - August 4, 2013 - KV Racing Technologydriver Simona De Silvestro finished11thin today's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on the picturesque 2.258-mile, 13-turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, OH. Teammate Tony Kanaan had a problem following his final pit stop and placed 24th.

De Silvestro driving the No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy - KV Racing Technology car, qualified a Mid-Ohio best ninth. She drove a smart, patient and consistent race taking advantage of her opportunities as they presented themselves and just missed out on her fifth top-ten of the season. De Silvestro, who used a traditional three-stop strategy, was in or near the top-10 the entire race. She got as high as sixth, but never got lower than 14th and then only until the round of pit stops cycled through.

"It was an ok result," De Silvestro said. "I wish we could have finished a little bit further up, but we didn't quite have the pace we should have during the second stint. We were in a bit of traffic in the beginning which didn't help either. But, I think there are a lot of positive things that we can take away from this race and hopefully we learn from it. It was good that we were running with the fast guys this weekend; the whole weekend. Now we can just look at the books again and hopefully we'll do better in the next one."

Simona de Silvestro, KV Racing
Simona de Silvestro, KV Racing

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

Kanaan, in the No.11 Sunoco - KV Racing Technology - SH Racing machine, had a frustrating qualifying placing 20th, but started 19th following a penalty. The team made a change to the car during this morning's warm-up that improved its performance and decided to employ an alternate fuel strategy pitting Kanaan on lap 12, which committed them early to a three-stop race. Kanaan drove a solid race improving his track position each stint. However, one lap after his final stop he developed a problem in the right rear and had to pull off course ending his race after 65 of the 90-lap contest.

Commenting on this weekend Kanaan said, "It wasn't our weekend. Nothing seemed to go our way. We just have to put this behind us and move on to Sonoma."

This was De Silvestro's second best finish in four attempts at Mid-Ohio. In her debut in 2010 she finished eighth. The 24-year-old Swiss driver has placed in the top-10 four times this year including a season-high sixthat the season opener at St. Petersburg. She also has an eighth-place showing at Sao Paulo and ninth place finishes at Long Beach and Toronto Race 1. De Silvestro has produced solid results in the last four races, finishing 11th in Pocono, tenth and 14th in Toronto, and 11th today.

In 12 starts at Mid-Ohio, Kanaan has now finished in the top-10seventimes with a best showing offourth in 2007.The 38-year-old Brazilian, who made his 210th consecutive start today, just one short of the record held by KVRT co-owner Jimmy Vasser, earnedsixpoints today and is now10thin the championship racewith 313 points.Kanaan, who failed to finish the race for just the third time in14 events this season, has earned six top-10six finishes including five top-five showings, three podiums and a victory at the 2013 Indianapolis 500.

Next up for KVRT is the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway, August 23-25.

KV Racing Technology

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