Catchfence

Indianapolis, IN (Sunday, May 20, 2012) - Lotus HVM Racing’s Simona De Silvestro qualified the #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car today for this year’s 96th running of the Indianapolis 500. De Silvestro was first in line when qualifying began at noon today thanks to the lucky draw of Twitter contest winner Jeff Wiedemann. Wiedemann was the second contest winner in two days to make an excellent qualifying draw for the team. Friday’s draw saw Domingo Riego pick the third spot in line for the team.

The team didn’t make an attempt in yesterday’s first round of qualifying, but today De Silvestro drove a very strong and consistent four laps (all within two-tenths of each other). Average speed for the qualifying run was 214.393, which places her in 32nd position on the starting grid for next Sunday’s 500-mile race.

De Silvestro is thrilled to be in the field of 33. “I’m really happy that we qualified. It was a good day for us. We found a bit of speed in the car and that’s a good thing. I think I have a lot of work on my side finding how to best maneuver in traffic. My team’s been working really hard and I’m glad I was able to come through for them. I’ve had a lot of support from everybody; from my team and from all the Nuclear Clean Air Energy sponsors. I’m just happy to be in the 500.”

Shane Seneviratne, Lotus HVM Team Manager, was pleased with today’s outcome. “It’s been a bit of a struggle,” he said, “but we made it into the field. I have to say Simona and the team made the best of the situation we were presented with and everyone worked really hard to get the car qualified. They deserve it. I also have to thank Lotus for their continued efforts. I’m looking forward to the race.”

Tom Brown, the team’s Technical Director, is proud of the team’s efforts. “I have to thank this crew for sticking it out this week. It has been one of the toughest weeks we’ve ever had. The car itself has been really good and the guys didn’t give up on anything. They came in every day and gave 110% and I’m proud of them. Really proud of them.”

Keith Wiggins, Lotus HVM Team Owner, was honest in his assessment of the team’s situation. “To be honest,” he said, “we’re happy to be in and under the circumstances we’re grateful that there’s only 33 cars. Right now we’ve got some work to do. We’ve just got to focus on the race and make sure that next year we come back with much improved power.”

Sponsors and their guests will be on-hand at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 27, 2012 to cheer Simona and the team on. The 2012 Indy 500 will air on ABC beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET.

About Lotus HVM Racing

HVM Racing was founded by Keith Wiggins and is based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The 2012 season marks its eleventh year of competition since forming in 2001. Since its inception, HVM Racing has earned six victories, two pole positions, 22 podiums, 40 top-five finishes and 97 top-tens. The team also earned “Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year” honors with current driver Simona De Silvestro in 2010. HVM finished fourth and third, respectively, in the Champ Car World Series in 2006 and 2007, and earned drivers Mario Dominguez and Robert Doornbos Rookie of the Year honors in 2002 and 2007, respectively. Lotus HVM Racing can be found online at www.hvmracing.com. Follow the team on twitter at www.twitter.com/HVMRacing and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HVMRacing.

About Lotus

Group Lotus plc, is based in Norfolk, UK, and has three operating divisions: Lotus Cars, Lotus Engineering and Lotus Racing.

Lotus Racing (formerly Lotus Motorsport) operates the motorsports activities of Lotus and includes the strategy to return the Lotus name to a great number of series including endurance racing with GT2, GT4 and LMP2, single seater racing with GP2, GP3 and IndyCar. Lotus also competes in Formula 1 with the Lotus F1 Team, racing in the iconic Black and Gold livery.

About Entergy

Entergy is the second largest owner and operator of U.S. nuclear energy plants. They operate or provide management services to 12 reactors at 10 sites. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity and delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas , Louisiana , Mississippi and Texas . Entergy has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and more than 15,000 employees. For more information: www.entergy-nuclear.com and www.NuclearCleanAirEnergy.com; on Twitter at @NuclearCleanAir, and on facebook at www.facebook.com/NuclearCleanAirEnergy.

Source: Lotus HVM Racing, Press Release