HVM Racing was forced to make a quick and smart decision as its star driver, Simona De Silvestro, experienced travel complications coming back to the United States from her home country of Switzerland.
After testing at Infineon Raceway last week with other drivers in the IZOD IndyCar Series, De Silvestro travelled home to visit with family and friends. Upon trying to return to the U.S., she encountered a technical issue with CBP. The team is now working diligently to resolve the issues but at the same time, does not want to risk missing valuable track time.
HVM Racing has enlisted the help of French driver Simon Pagenaud, who will drive the No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car for Friday's practice session and until the team is able to have De Silvestro back in the cockpit.
"It's an unfortunate situation," says HVM Team Owner, Keith Wiggins. "We could never have imagined this kind of an issue going into a race weekend and it just adds more challenges to our 2011 season, but it's in the team's best interest to continue our program. We're lucky to have another world-class driver like Simon Pagenaud who's willing to step up and work with us to achieve a successful result."
Friday's track activity includes one practice session from 2:50-4:05 p.m., split into two groups (group 1A from 2:50-3:35 p.m. and group 1B from 3:35-4:05 p.m.).
HVM and its lawyers will continue working to resolve the situation and further updates will follow as they become available.
After testing at Infineon Raceway last week with other drivers in the IZOD IndyCar Series, De Silvestro travelled home to visit with family and friends. Upon trying to return to the U.S., she encountered a technical issue with CBP. The team is now working diligently to resolve the issues but at the same time, does not want to risk missing valuable track time.
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| Simon Pagenaud (Photo: indycar.com) |
HVM Racing has enlisted the help of French driver Simon Pagenaud, who will drive the No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy car for Friday's practice session and until the team is able to have De Silvestro back in the cockpit.
"It's an unfortunate situation," says HVM Team Owner, Keith Wiggins. "We could never have imagined this kind of an issue going into a race weekend and it just adds more challenges to our 2011 season, but it's in the team's best interest to continue our program. We're lucky to have another world-class driver like Simon Pagenaud who's willing to step up and work with us to achieve a successful result."
Friday's track activity includes one practice session from 2:50-4:05 p.m., split into two groups (group 1A from 2:50-3:35 p.m. and group 1B from 3:35-4:05 p.m.).
HVM and its lawyers will continue working to resolve the situation and further updates will follow as they become available.