IndyCar

Milwaukee: KV Racing preview

KV RACING TECHNOLOGY'S MARIO MORAES LOOKING TO STEP FORWARD IN MILWAUKEE INDIANAPOLIS, IN - - MAY 29, 2009 - - KV Racing Technology's Mario Moraes will be looking to take a step forward with another strong oval performance this weekend at the ABC ...

Published: Jun 19, 2009, 7:57 PM

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KV RACING TECHNOLOGY'S MARIO MORAES LOOKING TO STEP FORWARD IN MILWAUKEE

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - - MAY 29, 2009 - - KV Racing Technology's Mario Moraes will be looking to take a step forward with another strong oval performance this weekend at the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225, May 30-31, at the historic Milwaukee Mile in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Moraes will be making his third oval start of the season and the 13th of his career. The talented Brazilian, in the #5 Azul -- Votorantim -- KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara/Firestone machine, has already competed on the 1.5-mile tri-oval in Kansas and the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. This will be his first short oval event of the year.

Coming into this season, his second in the IndyCar series, Moraes had never qualified higher than 20th on an oval and had a career best oval finish of 10th (Nashville in 2008). However, beginning with the Kansas race the 20-year-old resident of Miami, Florida has shown he is now competitive on oval tracks. Moraes qualified an IndyCar career high sixth in Kansas and finished 11th his second best showing ever on an oval. He followed up at Indianapolis by running in, or near, the top-five in practice all month and qualifying seventh. Unfortunately, forces beyond his control conspired to end his Indy 500 on the opening lap.

"I am more confident on ovals this year," Moraes said. "I had never raced on an oval before last year, so having a year's experience and running on the same tracks makes a big difference. Also, KV Racing Technology has developed a very good car which gives a driver confidence."

Moraes went on to say, "We had a good, not great, performance at Kansas and were among the fastest until we had the problem at Indy, so I am looking forward to racing in Milwaukee. I like the track. It is challenging and you have to stay focused, but I think we will have a good car."

Moraes will be making his 21st IndyCar start, fifth with KVRT and second in Milwaukee this weekend. Last year he qualified 23rd and finished 23rd driving for Dale Coyne Racing. Moraes is currently 19th in the championship race with 53 points, but with a little luck would be considerably higher in the standings. In St. Petersburg he qualified 20th, but was in line for a top-six finish when he was knocked out of the race. At Long Beach, Moraes started 13th and was running in ninth when he was hit from behind and went down a lap early in the contest. Moraes had his best race of the season in Kansas completing all 200 laps and finishing on the lead lap for the first time in his IndyCar career. Then he had the incident in Indy where two factors, another competitor being in the wrong place and a malfunctioning radio, conspired to end a promising day.

The ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 is Round #5 of the 2009 IndyCar Series season. It will be broadcast live on ABC.

KV Racing Technology Notes:

KVRT will be making its sixth appearance at Milwaukee, but just its second in the IndyCar Series. In nine previous starts (eight in Champ Car and two in IndyCar) the team has qualified in the top-10 seven times with one pole (Jimmy Vasser in 2005). They have finished in the top-10 five times with three top-five showings and a best performance of fourth by Vasser in 2004. Last year, in their first IndyCar appearance on the Milwaukee Mile, KVRT was very competitive. Oriol Servia qualified ninth and despite a first lap incident that put him in the back of the field was still able to finish sixth while teammate Will Power started fourth and finished 14th.

-credit: kvrt

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