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Race report

KV Racing Technology places both cars in top-10 Toronto Race 1

Kanaan laces fifth, De Silvestro 10th

Tony Kanaan, KV Racing Technology Chevrolet

Tony Kanaan, KV Racing Technology Chevrolet

Rebecca McKay

TORONTO, ON - Saturday, July 13, 2013 - KV Racing Technology placed both drivers in the top-10 with Tony Kanaan finishing fifth and teammate Simona De Silvestro placing 10th at today's Honda Indy Toronto Race No. 1 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Kanaan, behind the wheel of the No. 11 Hydroxycut - KV Racing Technology - SH Racing machine, started fourth on the 1.75-mile, 11-turn Toronto temporary street circuit. He lost two places in the first seven laps, but settled in and held station until his first pit stop on lap 26. After the first round of stops cycled through Kanaan was in 10th place, but went on the charge and fought his way into fifth just prior to his second fuel stop. He rejoined the contest again in fifth after all cars had stopped, however a crash brought out a yellow flag. During the ensuing restart, Kanaan got caught on the inside and lost two positions dropping to seventh. He battled back and took over sixth on lap 79. Then on lap 84 of the 85 lap competition, Will Power over-shot a turn attempting to pass and Kanaan took over fifth where he finished.

Tony Kanaan, KV Racing Technology Chevrolet
Tony Kanaan, KV Racing Technology Chevrolet

Photo by: Rebecca McKay

"It was a tough race," Kanaan said. "We were running with the leaders then had a slow first pit stop that shuffled us back a few places. We battled back, then I got caught on the inside during a restart and lost a couple of spots. We kept fighting and came away with a top-five finish, so I have to be happy about that especially with this being a home race for my sponsor Hydroxycut."

De Silvestro, driver of the No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car, moved up 12 places to finish tenth, her fourth top-ten finish this season. The 24-year-old Swiss native didn't move forward much in the early stages of the race, but was able to stay clean and make another late-race charge, passing Carpenter on lap 76 and Jakes on the final lap. Had De Silvestro not had an issue on her final pit-stop, stalling the car, she might likely have finished even better.

"It was a good recovery to where we were, starting way in the back," she said. "It was kind of a mess of a race; we stalled it in the pits once and we were really struggling at the beginning of the race and still came out tenth. It was a big surprise really, because I didn't think we would be even close to that. But, towards the end we were pretty quick, so that was good. The car started to get there, so we might only need to tweak it just a bit for tomorrow in order to be a little better right away. Because we're going to be starting closer to the front, it's even more important to have the Nuclear Clean Air Energy car dialed in from the start. We'll see tomorrow, but I think it should be fun."

Kanaan has now finished in the top-10 four times in nine starts here in Toronto with a best showing of fourth in 2012 and 2010. The 38-year-old Brazilian earned 32 points today and now sits fifth in the championship race with 301 points, 35 out of fourth and 85 out of first.The 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner has earned six top-10 finishes in the first 12 races of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season including five top-five finishes, three podium performances and the victory at Indy.

De Silvestro has now finished in the top-10 four times this season: sixth at St. Petersburg, ninth at Long Beach, eighth at Sao Paulo, and 10th today. This is her third top-10 finish in Toronto; she finished ninth in 2010 and 10th in 2011.

There was also a qualifying session today for tomorrow's Honda Indy Race No.2. In qualifying KVRT placed both cars in the top-10. Kanaan qualified sixth with a time of 59.5360 seconds and DeSilvestro, in a dramatic improvement over her qualifying run yesterday, took the 10th spot with a lap of 59.6489 seconds.

KV Racing Technology

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