KV Racing Technology

United States KV Racing Technology
Founded 2003 (2003)
Founder(s) Kevin Kalkhoven
Jimmy Vasser
Base Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Team principal(s) Kevin Kalkhoven
Jimmy Vasser
James Sullivan
Current series IndyCar Series
Current drivers France Sébastien Bourdais
Website http://kvracingtechnology.homestead.com/
KV Racing's No. 5 car at the 2008 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

KV Racing Technology is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series. The team was originally formed as PK Racing before the 2003 season by Australian businessman Kevin Kalkhoven and former Formula One team manager Craig Pollock from the remnants of the PacWest team.

The team has also sponsored drivers in the Atlantic Championship.

Champ Car

In its first season, the team fielded one car and employed several drivers including Patrick Lemarié, Bryan Herta, Max Papis and Mika Salo, the latter of which scored the team's best result of third late in the season.

For 2004, the team was significantly revamped. It was renamed to PKV Racing, as businessman Dan Pettit and veteran driver Jimmy Vasser replaced Pollock as co-owners. The team also expanded to field two cars for Vasser and rookie Roberto González. Vasser scored the team's best finish and second podium with a second place at Toronto, but the season was otherwise lackluster. In 2005, PKV replaced Gonzalez with former series champion Cristiano da Matta, who took the team's first win at Portland. Da Matta finished 11th in the championship, while Vasser scored two third-place finishes and was sixth overall.

For 2006, the team fielded full season entries for veteran Oriol Servià and rookie Katherine Legge. Vasser retired from racing after driving a third car at Long Beach. Servià scored a third place at Cleveland and finished 11th in the championship, while Legge struggled and finished 16th overall. The team's 2007 driver lineup was Neel Jani and Tristan Gommendy. Mario Domínguez subbed for Gommendy at Edmonton, and Servià replaced Gommendy for the final two races due to sponsorship issues. The team's best results were Jani's pair of second places finishes at Toronto and San Jose.

IndyCar

The team switched to the IndyCar Series following the unification of open wheel racing in 2008. Dan Pettit ceased his ownership role in the team and the team changed its name to KV Racing Technology. Australian businessmen Craig Gore and John Fish brought their Team Australia branding from Walker Racing along with driver Will Power to partner Servià.

Power won the Champ Car finale, the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach a race which also counted towards the IndyCar Series championship. In the 2008 Indianapolis 500, the first for the team and both drivers, Power qualified 23rd and finished 13th, while Servià qualified 25th and finished 11th.

Bryan Clauson's damaged No. 88 Jonathan Byrd's Racing car, run in conjunction with KV Racing Technology. returning to the garage at the 2015 Indianapolis 500.

In 2009, the team ran a full-time program for Brazilian Mario Moraes. Paul Tracy also made five starts for the team: Indy 500, Watkins Glen, Edmonton, Toronto, and Mid-Ohio. Townsend Bell drove a third car for the team at the Indy 500. In 2010 the team ran full-time programs for Takuma Sato, E. J. Viso, and Mario Moraes, plus a part-time program for Paul Tracy. James Rossiter tested for the team at Barber. For 2011, Sato and Viso returned to the team, as well as gaining technical support from Lotus Cars, re-branding the team as KV Racing Technology – Lotus, or KVRT-Lotus. The team added Tony Kanaan in a third car, the #82, as a tribute to the late Formula One and Indy 500 champion Jim Clark.

In the 2011 Indianapolis 500, Sato and Viso were the first two cars retired from the race due to separate accidents.

For 2012, Sato would leave KV for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, replaced by former Formula 1 driver Rubens Barichello. The team also announced that it would be partnering with Chevrolet. Although he was winless, Kanaan would finish 9th that season with a best finish of 2nd at Milwaukee. Both Viso and Barichello would struggle that year for results, with both drivers leaving the team at the end of the year.

On October 30, 2012, HVM Racing's Simona de Silvestro joined KV for the 2013 IndyCar Series season.[1]

Kanaan's win in the 2013 Indianapolis 500 was the first for KV, while de Silvestro scored her first podium at Houston. Kanaan departed KV to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing for the 2014 IndyCar Series season, while de Silvestro also departed the team at season's end.[2] They were replaced by Dragon Racing teammates Sébastien Bourdais and Sebastián Saavedra for 2014.

The team had moderate success in 2014, with Saavedra claiming his first pole at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Bourdais taking his first IndyCar win at Honda Indy Toronto. Though Bourdais finished 10th in standings, a lack of results saw Saavedra's release from the team. His replacement for 2015 would be former GP2 driver Stefano Coletti. Coletti would struggle heavily adapting to IndyCar, with a best finish of 8th at the 2015 Indianapolis 500. Bourdais would take his second win at the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit. KV would release Coletti at the end of the season, reducing to only Bourdais' No. 11 for the 2016 season. The team would take its second consecutive win in Detroit.

Drivers

Racing results

Complete Champ Car World Series results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
PK Racing
2003 Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t STP MTY LBH BRH LAU MIL LAG POR CLE TOR VAN ROA MDO MTL DEN MIA MEX SFR
France Patrick Lemarié 27 10 10 13 11 19 18
United States Bryan Herta 11
Italy Max Papis 15 12 16 9 4 9 9
Finland Mika Salo 14 3 5 11
PKV Racing
2004 Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR VAN ROA DEN MTL LAG LSV SFR MXC
United States Jimmy Vasser 12 16 12 4 8 5 2 10 8 17 8 17 5 12 5
Mexico Roberto González 21 14 9 12 10 7 13 13 16 12 10 14 10 11 12
2005 Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR EDM SJO DEN MTL LSV SRF MXC
United States Jimmy Vasser 12 9 14 5 6 6 4 11 11 15 7 3 3 6
Brazil Cristiano da Matta 21 10 6 11 1* 16 17 17 10 18 6 12 19 14
Mexico Jorge Goeters 52 18
2006 Lola B02/00 Ford XFE V8t LBH HOU MTY MIL POR CLE TOR EDM SJO DEN MTL ROA SRF MXC
Spain Oriol Servià 6 18 12 8 5 10 3 12 4 8 15 16 4 13 6
United States Jimmy Vasser 12 14
United Kingdom Katherine Legge 20 8 14 14 6 13 8 14 13 12 9 13 16 15 16
2007 Panoz DP01 Cosworth XFE V8t LSV LBH HOU POR CLE MTT TOR EDM SJO ROA ZOL ASN SFR MXC
Switzerland Neel Jani 21 10 7 15 12 3 6 2 9 2 10 8 5 8 9
France Tristan Gommendy 22 5 11 13 7 13 12 15 8 7 16 4
Mexico Mario Domínguez 17
Spain Oriol Servià 14 3

Complete IndyCar Series results

(key)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
2008 Dallara IR-05
Panoz DP011
Honda HI7R V8
Cosworth XFE V8t1
HMS STP MOT LBH KAN INDY MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL NSH MDO EDM KTY SNM DET CHI SRF2
Spain Oriol Servià 5 12 7 5 11 11 6 26 16 5 23 16 5 5 12 15 4 17 5
Australia Will Power 8 25 8 1* 27 13 14 13 9 25 15 11 4 22 26 25 8 5 22
United States Jimmy Vasser 12 10
2009 Dallara IR-05 Honda HI7R V8 STP LBH KAN INDY MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL TOR EDM KTY MDO SNM CHI MOT HMS
Brazil Mario Moraes 5 21 19 11 33 9 10 17 16 14 11 23 18 4 3 5 7
Canada Paul Tracy 7
15 9 20 19 6
United States Townsend Bell 8 4
2010 Dallara IR-05 Honda HI7R V8 SAO STP ALA LBH KAN INDY TXS IOW WGL TOR EDM MDO SNM CHI KTY MOT HMS
Japan Takuma Sato 5 22 22 25 18 24 20 25 19 15 25 9 25 18 26 27 12 18
Venezuela E. J. Viso 8 12 17 16 15 27 25 11 3 11 19 8 26 19 27 26 15 19
Canada Paul Tracy 15 DNQ 14 13 6 12 22
Brazil Mario Moraes 32 24 21 13 6 7 31 21 25 5 14 7 12 11 17 18 24 27
2011 Dallara IR-05 Honda HI7R V8 STP ALA LBH SAO INDY TXS MIL IOW TOR EDM MDO NHA SNM BAL MOT KTY LSV
Japan Takuma Sato 5 5 16 21 8 33 5 12 8 19 20 21 4 7 18 18 10 15 C
Venezuela E. J. Viso 59 19 23 25 13 32 7 10 20 17 9 20 15 12 9 15 21 23 C
Brazil Tony Kanaan 82 3 6 8 22 4 11 5 19 2 26 4 5 22 28 3 17 17 C
2012 Dallara DW12 Chevrolet IndyCar V6t STP ALA LBH SAO INDY DET TXS MIL IOW TOR EDM MDO SNM BAL FON
Venezuela E. J. Viso 5 8 18 12 9 18 18 19 5 24 20 16 20 16 9 25
Brazil Rubens Barrichello 8 17 8 9 10 11 25 DNS 10 7 11 13 15 4 5 22
Brazil Tony Kanaan 11 25 21 4 13 3 6 11 2 3 4 18 6 10 20 18
2013 Dallara DW12 Chevrolet IndyCar V6t STP ALA LBH SAO INDY DET TXS MIL IOW POC TOR MDO SNM BAL HOU FON
Brazil Tony Kanaan 11 4 13 20 21 1 13 12 3 10 3 13 5 24 24 13 15 21 24 3
Switzerland Simona de Silvestro 78 6 18 9 8 17 16 24 16 24 21 11 10 14 11 9 5 2 10 8
2014 Dallara DW12 Chevrolet IndyCar V6t STP LBH ALA IMS INDY DET TXS HOU POC IOW TOR MDO MIL SNM FON
United States Townsend Bell 6 25
France Sébastien Bourdais 11 13 14 15 4 7 13 20 20 4 5 16 19 1 9 2 12 11 18
Colombia Sebastián Saavedra 17 11 9 18 23 15 14 22 14 15 17 15 17 19 21 20 18 16 17
Australia James Davison 33 16
2015 Dallara DW12 Chevrolet IndyCar V6t STP NOL LBH ALA IMS INDY DET TXS TOR FON MIL IOW MDO POC SNM
Monaco Stefano Coletti 4 20 17 23 19 8 25 15 16 19 23 11 20 20 19 24 17
France Sébastien Bourdais 11 6 21 6 8 4 11 14 1 14 5 14 1 9 17 23 20
2016 Dallara DW12 Chevrolet IndyCar V6t STP PHX LBH ALA IMS INDY DET ROA IOW TOR MDO POC TXS WGL SNM
France Sébastien Bourdais 11 21 8 9 16 24 9 1 8 18 8 7 20 5 10 5 10
United Kingdom Stefan Wilson 25 28
1 Used at 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
2 Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

References

  1. "Simona de Silvestro to drive No. 78". Associated Press. ESPN. October 30, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
  2. Associated Press (October 4, 2013). "IndyCar: Ganassi Signs Kanaan, Announces Switch To Chevy". Fox Sports. Retrieved October 4, 2013.

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