SPEEDWAY, IN (May 19, 2012) – During a tough and emotional qualifying session KV Racing Technology put all three cars in the top-10 on the starting grid for the 96^th running of the Indianapolis 500 this coming weekend (May 27^th) at the fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana.

Tony Kanaan, in the No. 11 GEICO | MOUSER ELECTRONICS - KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Firestone entry, ended up eighth on the grid with a four-lap average of 224.751 mph and will grid on the inside of row three.

 E. J. Viso, behind the wheel of the No. 5 CITGO | PDVSA - KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Firestone car, will line-up ninth (outside of row three) after recording an average speed of 224.422 mph.

Rubens Barrichello, who pilots the No. 8 BMC | EMBRASE – KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Firestone machine had an average speed of 224.264 and qualified 10^th and will start on the inside of row four.

Both Kanaan and Viso took the green flag during their mandatory Fast Nine attempt and then pitted.

Explaining the strategy KV Racing Technology co-owner Jimmy Vasser said, “The goal today was to get our cars into the top-nine and in fact we qualified three cars in the top-10.  At this point our goal is to win the Indy 500.”

Qualifying for the Indy 500 is done in three stages.  The first, which was held today and is referred to as Pole Day provisionally sets the grid for the first 24 cars.  At four o’clock the first 24 cars are set and the second part of Pole Day begins with the nine fastest cars each taking another qualifying run to determine the first nine positions.

Tomorrow is Bump Day when the final nine cars will be slotted filling the field of 33.  After the grid is full “bumping begins” starting with the slowest car in the field regardless of the day they qualified.  The only cars that cannot be bumped are the first nine.  Kanaan and Viso are locked into their starting positions and Barrichello, while technically provisional, is safe based on the number of cars available for Bump Day.

The Indianapolis 500 will be broadcast live May 27 on ABC beginning at 12:00 p.m. (ET) (tape delayed at 7:00 p.m. ET in Indianapolis).

KV Racing Technology was founded in January 2003 and joined the IndyCar Series in 2008.  The Indianapolis based team is owned by successful venture capitalist Kevin Kalkhoven and 1996 IndyCar Champion Jimmy Vasser.  Veteran Motorsports manager, Mark Johnson is the team’s General Manager.  Johnson is assisted by Team Manager Tom Wurtz, Technical Director Eric Cowdin and Operations Manager Steve Moore.

 American Racing is a team partner to KV Racing.

SOURCE: KV Racing

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