IOWA - MORE DIFFICULTIES

Newton, Iowa (June 22, 2008) - PDVSA HVM Racing in its first outing in Iowa was not able to build upon its recent good results post Indy 500.

The team like the other newcomers was not helped by the elements, as the rain interrupted the Friday testing session and the Saturday qualifying session reducing testing time and precious data collection.

Due to weather conditions the starting grid was dictated by the championship positions, which resulted in PDVSA HVM Racing and its driver E.J. Viso to start on the 13th spot.

At the start of the race E.J. was aiming for longer stints, saving fuel and hoping to make position on pit strategy, as the 0.894 mile Iowa oval does not allow for much overtaking. However, the team encountered more difficulties than expected with the second set of tyres being less than optimal. This resulted in the strategy having to be changed as E.J. was lapping much slower than the group he was racing. From the 3rd pitstop onwards E.J. managed to get some speed back and move from 16th to 13th, position where he finished the race, despite contact with a slowing Castroneves in the finishing laps.

E.J. Viso – PDVSA HVM Racing driver said:

“Finishing 13th sounds good given that we did not have as much speed this weekend as in recent races. My second set of tyres slowed us down considerably and after that I was really fighting to finish as high as possible more than anything else.

The team did a great job in the pits and we moved few positions in the 3rd and 4th stops.

We are all now looking to the hectic bull ring that is Richmond, another short oval where we will take lessons from Iowa and hopefully improve both our speed and our position.”

Keith Wiggins – PDVSA HVM Racing principal said:

“As always we were expecting to continue to move towards the front of the grid. But this weekend we were pretty much middle of the pack and did not make the progress we would like.

Now we move our focus to Richmond.”

For more information on E.J. Viso please visit www.ejviso.com
For more information on HVM Racing visit www.hvm-racing.com

HVM is based in Indianapolis, Indiana. In its 7 years of competition in the Champ Car World Series, the team has earned 6 wins, 2 pole positions, and an additional 16 podiums since 2001 when Keith Wiggins took over Bettenhausen Motorsports. They finished 4th and 3rd, respectively, in Championship standings in 2006 and 2007 and drivers Mario Dominguez and Robert Doornbos were named Rookie of the Year in 2002 and 2007, respectively.