Barrichello, #5 KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Firestone, who was driving an IndyCar for the first time and for the first time at Sebring, ran 94 laps, approximately 150 miles, making progress throughout the day.  By the end of the day he was posting times that were competitive with drivers who have been in the series for several years and tested at Sebring before.
“I had a very very nice day with KV Racing Technology,” Barrichello said.  “In the morning I was getting used to the car and not doing anything silly because obviously you don’t want to put it in the wall.  It’s a different machine from what I’m used to, but it had a good feeling.   Whatever happens for the future, which might change, all I said at the beginning was I want Kevin (Kalkhoven), Jimmy (Vasser) and Tony to remember when we were here at Sebring, ‘Rubens tried that and it was really good and made us go faster, so let’s try that again for this circuit’.  So, I’ve had a very good and productive day behind the wheel and with all the setup options that I have tried, I think it went well.  You could call me a rookie, even though I’ve had 33 years doing this job, but today I was an IndyCar rookie. ”

Kanaan, #11 KV Racing Technology Chevrolet/Firestone, who was testing at Sebring for the second time with the new car completed 84 laps, approximately 135 miles.  He spent the entire day working on car development, but in the process still produced competitive times.

“Well, there really isn’t much to say,” said Kanaan. “The guy comes here for the first time and after 20 laps he’s already running the same lap times as me!  His knowledge and experience helped confirm some ideas that we had for this test, so it was very productive having Rubens around.”

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus qualified with a two-lap average speed of 222.078 mph.  This was the 15th pole of Kanaan’s 14 year career and 11th in the IndyCar Series.  It is his first earned pole since June 27, 2008 at Richmond International Raceway.  Kanaan sat on the pole earlier this year in Texas No. 2, but that was by virtue of a draw.

“It feels awesome,” Kanaan said. “It has been awhile.  I guess I’ve got to do more Ironmans on my weekends off.  I’m extremely happy.  I can’t thank the GEICO – KV – Lotus guys enough.  We had such an awful race at Kentucky that we needed to turn it around.  They went back to the shop to massage that car as much as they could and it paid off.”

Today’s pole is the third for KVRT – Lotus this season (fourth including Texas No. 2) and fifth in team history not counting Will Power’s pole at the Surfers Paradise exhibition race in 2008.

“We were slow, slow all day long,” Kanaan said. “There was nothing I could do to make the car go any faster, so I took every start and restart to gain positions and did my best to maintain them during the green flag periods.   But the car really didn’t help.   As soon as the field began to stretch I started losing positions again.  It was a painful day for the GEICO – KVRT – Lotus guys.”

Kanaan scored 13 points today and remains fifth in the championship race with 366 points.  The 36-year-old Brazilian is having his best season in three years and is looking to become the first KVRT driver to finish in the top-five in the final standings.  KVRT – Lotus co-owner Jimmy Vasser holds the team record with a sixth place finish in 2005.  Kanaan leads KVRT – Lotus with nine top-10 finishes including seven top-five showings and three podiums (second at Iowa, thirds at St. Petersburg and Baltimore).  In six oval events this year, he has earned three top-five finishes with one podium (Indy 500 – fourth; Texas2 – fifth and Iowa – second) and led 97 laps (Texas2 – 39, Milwaukee – 33 and Iowa – 25).

“It was a very tough race and our strategy didn’t play the way we expected,” Kanaan said.  “Starting from the back you got to take some chances in order to move forward but this time it just didn’t work out as expected, but I’m glad that we still maintained our 5th spot in the championship. I’m sad that this was our last race in Japan, I’ll really miss this place.”

Kanaan, No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, had a horrendous accident in the morning warm-up when his brakes failed.  The damage was so extensive that the entire KVRT – Lotus team including Kanaan himself, team co-owner Jimmy Vasser and General Manager Mark Johnson all worked alongside crew members of all three KVRT – Lotus cars for over four hours repairing the car and getting it to the grid on time.  However, the team decided to switch tubs (the area where the driver sits), so Kanaan, per IndyCar rules, gridded 27th instead of 11th where he initially qualified.  Kanaan drove intelligently during the early stages of the race and the team decided to use an alternative fuel strategy bringing him in for fuel on lap 12.  Even with the early stop Kanaan still managed to make progress through the field and was running in 19th place when he pitted for fuel for the second time shortly after the first caution.  His big break came following the restart which resulted in a massive crash in the hairpin.  Kanaan avoided the carnage and when the dust settled and the field had been “reorganized” by series officials, he found himself in 11th place.  At that point the team made the crucial decision to come in for  a final splash of fuel and the stage was set.  Kanaan immediately passed three cars to move into eighth place and when the lead cars, who were on a two stop strategy began to pit starting around lap 60 he found himself in third place.  Saving fuel and defending his position, Kanaan made it the final 30 plus laps to finish on the podium.

Commenting on his day an exhausted Kanaan said, “Wow, what a day.  We had a problem in the morning warm-up that caused a huge crash and destroyed my primary car.  My guys really worked hard to get the backup car together.   I mean, everyone from the team was helping to get the car ready for the race.  Then we start 27th on a road course and finish third… What can I say? I’m as happy as I can be with this podium. Finishing third was a victory for us.  It was a great performance from the whole GEICO-KVRT-Lotus team at GEICO’s hometown.   It was awesome, great calls from my guys in the pits, huge support from my team, Kevin Kalkohven, Jimmy (Vasser) and Mark (Johnson) and a hard race where we fought for every inch and used every opportunity we had.”

Kanaan scored 35 points today and moved back into the top-five, at No. 5 in the championship race with 340 points.  The 36-year-old Brazilian has finished in the top-10 nine times including seven top-five showings and three podiums (second at Iowa and third at St. Petersburg to go with today’s third).  Kanaan has finished in the top-10 in six of the nine street/road races contesting this year including four top-five finishes and two podiums (St. Petersburg and Baltimore, third;  Edmonton, fourth; Mid-Ohio, fifth also placed sixth at Barber and eighth at Long Beach).

“We went on an alternate strategy right in the beginning of the race to get rid of the black tires,” Kanaan said. “It went really well until I got stuck behind Carpenter and couldn’t pass him.  The GEICO – KV – Lotus guys did a good job with the strategy but it didn’t pan out.  After that we had a mechanical problem that ended my race.”

Kanaan scored 10 points today and is now sixth in the championship race with 305 points.  The 36-year-old Brazilian has finished in the top-10 eight times including six top-five showings and two podiums (second at Iowa and third at St. Petersburg).  Kanaan has finished in the top-10 in five of the eight road/street races including three top-five finishes and a podium (St. Petersburg, third; Edmonton, fourth; Mid-Ohio, fifth also placed sixth at Barber and eighth at Long Beach).

KVRT – Lotus has had some of their best results this season on tracks that require drivers to turn right as well as left and earning 10 top-10 finishes with five top-five finishes in eight road/street events.

Next up for KVRT – Lotus is the Baltimore Grand Prix, September 2-4, on the streets of downtown Baltimore in Baltimore, MD.  The race will be broadcast live, Sunday, September 4 on Versus at 2:00 p.m. ET

“You’ve got to ask Marco and Scheckter what they were thinking… I was on the inside and all of a sudden I got collected.  I don’t know who hit who where, but they gotta have something to explain. When a car is a lap down, they shouldn’t be racing the cars that are on the lead lap.  I’m glad that I’m ok, but I’m upset for the GEICO – KVRT – Lotus guys… The car was not the fastest car out there today, but there were still important points for us.  Let’s move on.”

Kanaan earned 12 points for his effort today and is now fifth in the championship race with 295 points, 13 points out of fourth.  The 36-year-old Brazilian leads KVRT – Lotus with eight top-10 finishes including six top-five showings and two podiums (second at Iowa and third at St. Petersburg) in 13 races (Texas two starts).  In six oval events this year Kanaan has earned three top-five finishes with one podium (Indy 500, fourth; Texas race No. 2, fifth and Iowa, second) and led 58 laps (Milwaukee, 33 and Iowa, 25).

Next up for KVRT – Lotus is the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, August 26-28, at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.  The race will be broadcast live, Sunday, August 28 on Versus at 4:00 p.m. ET

“I can’t complain about a top-five finish, but we should’ve been better,” Kanaan said.  “We lost too much time and positions in the pits for the second race in a row.  That makes things difficult to make up at the track.  But, it was a solid result for the GEICO – KVRT – Lotus team and also for Taku’s team with a fourth-place finish.”