KV Racing Technology

KV Racing Technology

Founded	2003
Founder(s)	Kevin Kalkhoven Jimmy Vasser
Folded	2017
Base	Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Team principal(s)	Kevin Kalkhoven Jimmy Vasser James Sullivan
Former series	Champ Car World Series, IndyCar Series
Teams' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0

KV Racing Technology was an auto racing team that last competed in the IndyCar Series. The team was originally formed as PK Racing before the 2003 season by Australian businessman Kevin Kalkhoven and former Formula One team manager Craig Pollock from the remnants of the PacWest team.^[1]

The team has also sponsored drivers in the Atlantic Championship.

In its first season, the team fielded one car and employed several drivers including Patrick Lemarié, Bryan Herta, Max Papis and Mika Salo, the latter of which scored the team's best result of third late in the season.

For 2004, the team was significantly revamped. It was renamed to PKV Racing, as businessman Dan Pettit and veteran driver Jimmy Vasser replaced Pollock as co-owners. The team also expanded to field two cars for Vasser and rookie Roberto González. Vasser scored the team's best finish and second podium with a second place at Toronto, but the season was otherwise lackluster. In 2005, PKV replaced Gonzalez with former series champion Cristiano da Matta, who took the team's first win at Portland. Da Matta finished 11th in the championship, while Vasser scored two third-place finishes and was sixth overall.

For 2006, the team fielded full season entries for veteran Oriol Servià and rookie Katherine Legge. Vasser retired from racing after driving a third car at Long Beach. Servià scored a third place at Cleveland and finished 11th in the championship, while Legge struggled and finished 16th overall. The team's 2007 driver lineup was Neel Jani and Tristan Gommendy. Mario Domínguez subbed for Gommendy at Edmonton, and Servià replaced Gommendy for the final two races due to sponsorship issues. The team's best results were Jani's pair of second places finishes at Toronto and San Jose.

The team switched to the IndyCar Series following the unification of American open wheel racing in 2008. Dan Pettit ceased his ownership role in the team and the team changed its name to KV Racing Technology. Australian businessmen Craig Gore and John Fish brought their Team Australia branding from Walker Racing along with driver Will Power to partner Servià.

Power won the Champ Car finale, the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach a race which also counted towards the IndyCar Series championship. Vasser also competed in the race in what was his true final race. In the 2008 Indianapolis 500, the first for the team and both drivers, Power qualified 23rd and finished 13th, while Servià qualified 25th and finished 11th.

In 2009, the team ran a full-time program for Brazilian Mario Moraes. Paul Tracy also made five starts for the team: Indy 500, Watkins Glen, Edmonton, Toronto, and Mid-Ohio. Townsend Bell drove a third car for the team at the Indy 500. In 2010 the team ran full-time programs for Takuma Sato, E. J. Viso, and Mario Moraes, plus a part-time program for Paul Tracy. James Rossiter tested for the team at Barber. For 2011, Sato and Viso returned to the team, as well as gaining technical support from Lotus Cars, re-branding the team as KV Racing Technology – Lotus, or KVRT-Lotus. The team added Tony Kanaan in a third car, the #82, as a tribute to the late Formula One and Indy 500 champion Jim Clark.^[2]

In the 2011 Indianapolis 500, Sato and Viso were the first two cars retired from the race due to separate accidents.

For 2012, Sato would leave KV for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, replaced by former Formula 1 driver Rubens Barichello. The team also announced that it would be partnering with Chevrolet. Although he was winless, Kanaan would finish 9th that season with a best finish of 2nd at Milwaukee. Both Viso and Barichello would struggle that year for results, with both drivers leaving the team at the end of the year.^[3]

On 30 October 2012, HVM Racing's Simona de Silvestro joined KV for the 2013 IndyCar Series season.^[4]

Kanaan's win in the 2013 Indianapolis 500 was the first for KV, while de Silvestro scored her first podium at Houston. Kanaan departed KV to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing for the 2014 IndyCar Series season, while de Silvestro also departed the team at season's end.^[5] They were replaced by Dragon Racing teammates Sébastien Bourdais and Sebastián Saavedra for 2014.

The team had moderate success in 2014, with Saavedra claiming his first pole at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Bourdais taking his first IndyCar win at Honda Indy Toronto. Though Bourdais finished 10th in standings, a lack of results saw Saavedra's release from the team. His replacement for 2015 would be former GP2 driver Stefano Coletti. Coletti would struggle heavily adapting to IndyCar, with a best finish of 8th at the 2015 Grand Prix of Indianapolis.^[6] Bourdais would take his second win at the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit. KV would release Coletti at the end of the season, reducing to only Bourdais' No. 11 for the 2016 season. The team would take its second consecutive win in Detroit.

Despite the win, funding for the team was in doubt as Kalkhoven wished to sell the team's equipment. In response, Bourdais departed KVSH for Dale Coyne Racing. Without proper funding, Kalkhoven and Vasser attempted to sell the team to Indy Lights owner Trevor Carlin, but the deal fell through. On 16 February 2017, Vasser and Kalkhoven released statements confirming the end of KV Racing Technology, and the sale of equipment and technical data to Juncos Racing.

In February 2018, former KVSH co-owners Jimmy Vasser and James "Sulli" Sullivan formed a partnership with Dale Coyne to field Sébastien Bourdais for the 2018 IndyCar Series as Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan.^[7]

• Patrick Lemarié (2003)
• Mika Salo (2003)
• Max Papis (2003)
• Bryan Herta (2003)
• Jimmy Vasser (2004–2006, 2008)
• Roberto González (2004)
• Cristiano da Matta (2005)
• Jorge Goeters (2005)
• Katherine Legge (2006)
• Oriol Servià (2006–2008)
• Neel Jani (2007)
• Tristan Gommendy (2007)
• Will Power (2008)
• Townsend Bell (2009, 2014)
• Mario Moraes (2009–2010)
• Paul Tracy (2009–2010)
• Takuma Sato (2010–2011)
• E. J. Viso (2010–2012)
• Tony Kanaan (2011–2013)
• Rubens Barrichello (2012)
• Simona de Silvestro (2013)
• Sebastián Saavedra (2014)
• Sébastien Bourdais (2014–2016)
• Stefano Coletti (2015)
• Bryan Clauson (2015)
• Stefan Wilson (2016)

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pts Pos	Pts
PK Racing
2003						STP	MTY	LBH	BRH	LAU	MIL	LAG	POR	CLE	TOR	VAN	ROA	MDO	MTL	DEN	MIA	MEX	SFR
	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8t	B	Patrick Lemarié	27	10	10	13	11	19	18													21st	8
				Bryan Herta								11												25th	2
				Max Papis									15	12	16	9	4	9	9					17th	25
				Mika Salo																14	3	5	11	16th	26
PKV Racing
2004						LBH	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	VAN	ROA	DEN	MTL	LAG	LSV	SFR	MXC
	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8t	B	Jimmy Vasser	12	16	12	4	8	5	2	10	8	17	8	17	5	12	5					8th	201
				Roberto González	21	14	9	12	10	7	13	13	16	12	10	14	10	11	12					15th	136
2005						LBH	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	LSV	SRF	MXC
	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8t	B	Jimmy Vasser	12	9	14	5	6	6	4	11	11	15	7	3	3	6						6th	217
				Cristiano da Matta	21	10	6	11	1*	16	17	17	10	18	6	12	19	14						11th	139
				Jorge Goeters	52		18																	29th	3
2006						LBH	HOU	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	ROA	SRF	MXC
	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8t	B	Oriol Servià	6	18	12	8	5	10	3	12	4	8	15	16	4	13	6					11th	197
				Jimmy Vasser	12	14																		24th	7
				Katherine Legge	20	8	14	14	6	13	8	14	13	12	9	13	16	15	16					16th	133
2007						LSV	LBH	HOU	POR	CLE	MTT	TOR	EDM	SJO	ROA	ZOL	ASN	SFR	MXC
	Panoz DP01	Cosworth XFE V8t	B	Neel Jani	21	10	7	15	12	3	6	2	9	2	10	8	5	8	9					9th	231
				Tristan Gommendy	22	5	11	13	7	13	12	15		8	7	16	4							12th	140
				Mario Domínguez									17											18th	78
				Oriol Servià														14	3					6th	237

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Pts Pos	Pts
2008						HMS	STP	MOT	LBH1	KAN	INDY	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	SRF2
	Dallara IR-05	Honda HI7R V8	F	Oriol Servià	5	12	7			11	11	6	26	16	5	23	16	5	5	12	15	4	17	5	9th	358
	Panoz DP01	Cosworth XFE V8t	B						5
	Dallara IR-05	Honda HI7R V8	F	Will Power	8	25	8			27	13	14	13	9	25	15	11	4	22	26	25	8	5	22	12th	331
	Panoz DP01	Cosworth XFE V8t	B						1*
				Jimmy Vasser	12				10																NC	—
2009						STP	LBH	KAN	INDY	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	TOR	EDM	KTY	MDO	SNM	CHI	MOT	HMS
	Dallara IR-05	Honda HI7R V8	F	Mario Moraes	5	21	19	11	33	9	10	17	16	14	11	23	18		4	3	5	7			14th	304
				Paul Tracy														7							23rd	113
					15				9					20	19	6
				Townsend Bell	8				4																32nd	32
2010						SAO	STP	ALA	LBH	KAN	INDY	TXS	IOW	WGL	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM	CHI	KTY	MOT	HMS
	Dallara IR-05	Honda HI7R V8	F	Takuma Sato	5	22	22	25	18	24	20	25	19	15	25	9	25	18	26	27	12	18			21st	214
				E. J. Viso	8	12	17	16	15	27	25	11	3	11	19	8	26	19	27	26	15	19			17th	262
				Paul Tracy	15						DNQ				13	6									27th	91
				Mario Moraes	32	24	21	13	6	7	31	21	25	5	14	7	12	11	17	18	24	27			15th	287
2011						STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY	TXS		MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	NHA	SNM	BAL	MOT	KTY	LSV
	Dallara IR-05	Honda HI7R V8	F	Takuma Sato	5	5	16	21	8	33	5	12	8	19	20	21	4	7	18	18	10	15	C3		13th	297
				E. J. Viso	59	19	23	25	13	32	7	10	20	17	9	20	15	12	9	15	21	23	C3		18th	241
				Tony Kanaan	82	3	6	8	22	4	11	5	19	2	26	4	5	22	28	3	17	17	C3		5th	366
2012						STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY	DET	TXS	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM	BAL	FON
	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet IndyCar V6t	F	E. J. Viso	5	8	18	12	9	18	18	19	5	24	20	16	20	16	9	25					20th	244
				Rubens Barrichello	8	17	8	9	10	11	25	DNS	10	7	11	13	15	4	5	22					12th	289
				Tony Kanaan	11	25	21	4	13	3	6	11	2	3	4	18	6	10	20	18					9th	351
2013						STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY	DET		TXS	MIL	IOW	POC	TOR		MDO	SNM	BAL	HOU		FON
	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet IndyCar V6t	F	Tony Kanaan	11	4	13	20	21	1	13	12	3	10	3	13	5	24	24	13	15	21	24	3	11th	397
				Simona de Silvestro	78	6	18	9	8	17	16	24	16	24	21	11	10	14	11	9	5	2	10	8	13th	362
2014						STP	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY	DET		TXS	HOU		POC	IOW	TOR		MDO	MIL	SNM	FON
	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet IndyCar V6t	F	Townsend Bell	6					25															32nd	22
				Sébastien Bourdais	11	13	14	15	4	7	13	20	20	4	5	16	19	1*	9	2	12	11	18		10th	461
				Sebastián Saavedra	17	11	9	18	23	15	14	22	14	15	17	15	17	19	21	20	18	16	17		21st	291
				James Davison	33					16															29th	34
2015						STP	NOL	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY	DET		TXS	TOR	FON	MIL	IOW	MDO	POC	SNM
	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet IndyCar V6t	F	Stefano Coletti	4	20	17	23	19	8	25	15	16	19	23	11	20	20	19	24	17				19th	203
				Sébastien Bourdais	11	6	21	6	8	4	11	14	1	14	5	14	1*	9	17	23	20				10th	406
2016						STP	PHX	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY	DET		ROA	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	TXS	WGL	SNM
	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet IndyCar V6t	F	Sébastien Bourdais	11	21	8	9	16	24	9	1	8	18	8	7	20	5	10	5	10				14th	404
				Stefan Wilson	25						28														34th	14

Media related to KV Racing Technology at Wikimedia Commons

• KV Racing Technology website