HVM Racing was an auto racing team owned byKeith Wiggins that competed in theIndyCar Series. It competed in theChamp Car World Series in 2007 asMinardi Team USA when it was co-owned byPaul Stoddart.[1] It has a long history of changes of ownership, including a previous incarnation asCTE-HVM Racing, co-owned by actor/comedianCedric the Entertainer.
Its2007 driver lineup wasDan Clarke and former Formula One driverRobert Doornbos, who previously raced forMinardi F1.
In the first race of the season, the2007 Las Vegas Grand Prix, Robert Doornbos made the most successful debut sinceNigel Mansell in 1993, finishing second on the podium.
They also made the distinction of being the only team willing to run a car numbered 13 full-time, with driverE. J. Viso, when they did so for the2009 IndyCar Series season, despite negativesuperstitions from the past about running it in any form of motorsport.
The team has had a long history of names, first as Bettenhausen Motorsports under the leadership ofTony Bettenhausen Jr. The cars were primarily dark blue, white and red withAlumax Aluminum sponsorship and ran several drivers of note,Stefan Johansson,Hélio Castroneves, andPatrick Carpentier among them. The 1992 car appeared in the cover of the 1993 video gameIndyCar Racing. They had a difficult 1999 season asShigeaki Hattori had his competitor's license revoked by chief stewardWally Dallenbach Sr. before the race atLaguna Seca.
Before the 2000 season started, Bettenhausen, his wife and two business associates were killed in a plane crash on their way home from vacation in Florida. The team was renamed Herdez Competition asMichel Jourdain Jr. came aboard with Wiggins taking over as co-owner and managing director. Two uncompetitive seasons followed andMario Dominguez was brought into the team in 2002. A fortunate victory came atSurfers Paradise in a water-logged event, as Dominguez started last and failed to pass a single car on track but benefited from pit strategy.
The win boosted his confidence and the team recorded a 1-2 result atMiami, Dominguez leadingRoberto Moreno, was the highlight of a much-improved 2003 season, finishing fifth in the championship.Ryan Hunter-Reay came into the team in 2004 and led all 250 laps atThe Milwaukee Mile from the pole position.Herdez sponsorship faded at the end of the year and for 2005, with the team now called HVM, Wiggins was forced to take on pay-driversBjörn Wirdheim andRonnie Bremer. Despite Wirdheim's impressive performances in the2003International Formula 3000 season, his subsequent championship title, andJaguar F1 testing experience, he failed to regularly beat Bremer during the season. Both of their funds dried up, however, before the end of the season and several other drivers had chances in the team's two cars.
Cedric the Entertainer became a co-owner late in the season and added a celebrity presence to the field. The cars that year ran a distinctive gunmetal gray livery with Cedric's A Bird and A Bear entertainment company on the sidepods.Nelson Philippe won inAustralia and the team recorded their best season with a fourth place in the championship by Philippe.
In 2006,Paul Stoddart, former owner of theMinardiFormula One team, bought an interest in the team and renamed it Minardi Team USA. For the 2007 season, Stoddart and Wiggins lined up the services of Dan Clarke and Red Bull F1 Racing test driver Robert Doornbos. With Doornbos the team began competing for podium positions regularly. The team scored its first win under the Minardi Team USA banner at the 2007 Champ Car Grand Prix de Mont Tremblant. Doornbos went on to capture another win at San Jose, and his tally for 2007 was 2 wins and 6 podiums. Doornbos went on to finish 3rd in Championship standings, earn Rookie of the Year, and was the highest finishing Rookie in the Champ Car World Series since Juan Pablo Montoya in 1999. Doornbos also won the award for Hard Charger, improving the most positions during the race.
Dan Clarke had a season plagued with bad luck, but had a bright spot when he finished 2nd at Road America, though he was involved in a high-speed incident with Doornbos, which hurt the Dutchman's championship hopes. Clarke later triggered a multi-car pile-up during free practice atZolder, and was suspended from competition for the race weekend.
In2008, following American open wheel unification, the team moved to the IRL IndyCar Series withE. J. Viso as its driver. The team also participated in theLong Beach Grand Prix with two more cars under the Minardi Team USA name forNelson Philippe andRoberto Moreno.[2] Viso finished the 2008 season with seven top-10 finishes and a season-best fourth-place finish at St. Petersburg.
Viso stayed in the team in 2009 and the team aligned itself with theIndy Lights teamMichael Crawford Motorsports, renaming it HVM Indy Lights. The Indy Lights team ran its first race at Infineon Raceway in August 2009 with driverJuan Pablo Garcia.Ryan Hunter-Reay tested the team's IndyCar at Sebring two weeks before the 2009 season opener at St. Petersburg and appeared to become the second driver for the team, but signed with Vision Racing instead.Nelson Philippe joined the team as its second driver for the Indianapolis 500.[3] Robert Doornbos returned to HVM in August 2009, piloting the #33 for the remainder of the 2009 season.
For the2010 season, HVM Racing signedSwitzerland'sSimona de Silvestro full-time to drive the #78Team Stargate Worlds entry. de Silvestro was one of five women to compete in the IndyCar Series in 2010, along withAna Beatriz,Milka Duno,Sarah Fisher, andDanica Patrick, and finished 19th in the overall points standings. She was the second highest-placed female in the points standings, behindDanica Patrick, who finished tenth. de Silvestro's best finish in 2010 came atMid–Ohio Sports Car Course, where she finished in eighth place.
On October 6, 2010, just four days after the 2010 season concluded, HVM Racing announced that they would be bringing de Silvestro back to the team in2011 in the #78 entry.[4]
On October 30, 2012, de Silvestro signed on toKV Racing Technology for 2013,[5] leaving HVM without a driver or a sponsor. However, former KV driverE. J. Viso had intended to run his own team for 2013, but had little luck. HVM and Viso joined forces withAndretti Autosport to run Viso as a satellite team for Andretti. On 11 November 2015 the team was listed as up for auction officially listing the team as defunct.[6]
Gary Bettenhausen (1982–1983, 1996)
Ronnie Bremer (2005)
Patrick Carpentier (1997)
Hélio Castroneves (1998)
Dan Clarke (2006–2007)
Simona de Silvestro (2010–2012)
Fabrizio del Monte (2005)
Mario Dominguez (2002–2004, 2007)
Robert Doornbos (2007, 2009)Roberto González (2003)
Shigeaki Hattori (1999)Ryan Hunter-Reay (2004)
Stefan Johansson (1992–1996)Michel Jourdain Jr. (2000–2001)Rodolfo Lavin (2005)Roberto Moreno (2003, 2008)
Nelson Philippe (2006, 2008, 2009)Homero Richards (2005)Gualter Salles (1999)Alex Sperafico (2005)
E. J. Viso (2008–2009)Björn Wirdheim (2005)| Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | Fast laps | Points | D.C. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Dallara-Honda Panoz-Cosworth | Ernesto Viso | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 286 | 18th |
| 2009 | Dallara-Honda | Ernesto Viso | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 248 | 18th |
| Nelson Philippe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 35th | ||
| Robert Doornbos | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 283 | 16th | ||
| 2010 | Dallara-Honda | Simona de Silvestro | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 242 | 19th |
| 2011 | Dallara-Honda | Simona de Silvestro | 15 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 225 | 20th |
| 2012 | Dallara-Lotus | Simona de Silvestro | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 182 | 24th |
(key) (results inbold indicate pole position) (results initalics indicate fastest lap)
(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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | HMS | STP | MOT | LBH1 | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | NSH | MDO | EDM | KTY | SNM | DET | CHI | SRF2 | |||||
| Dallara IR-05 | HondaHI7RV8 | F | E. J. Viso | 33 | 17 | 4 | 14 | 26 | 8 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 22 | 15 | 13 | 6 | 24 | 23 | 6 | ||||
| PanozDP01 | CosworthXFEV8t | B | 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nelson Philippe | 4 | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Roberto Moreno | 14 | 17 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | STP | LBH | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | TOR | EDM | KTY | MDO | SNM | CHI | MOT | HMS | |||||||
| Dallara IR-05 | HondaHI7RV8 | F | E. J. Viso | 13 | 17 | 23 | 21 | 24 | 18 | 24 | 20 | 12 | 7 | 13 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 22 | 17 | 15 | 16 | |||
| Nelson Philippe | 00 | 25 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Robert Doornbos | 33 | 14 | 10 | 18 | 16 | 20 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | SAO | STP | ALA | LBH | KAN | INDY | TXS | IOW | WGL | TOR | EDM | MDO | SNM | CHI | KTY | MOT | HMS | |||||||
| Dallara IR-05 | HondaHI7RV8 | F | Simona de Silvestro | 78 | 16 | 16 | 21 | 17 | 22 | 14 | 24 | 21 | 24 | 9 | 22 | 8 | 13 | 23 | 25 | 23 | 23 | |||
| 2011 | STP | ALA | LBH | SAO | INDY | TXS | MIL | IOW | TOR | EDM | MDO | NHA | SNM | BAL | MOT | KTY | LSV | |||||||
| Dallara IR-05 | HondaHI7RV8 | F | Simona de Silvestro | 78 | 4 | 9 | 20 | 20 | 31 | 26 | 27 | 25 | DNS | 10 | 24 | 12 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 25 | C3 | |||
| Simon Pagenaud | 15 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | STP | ALA | LBH | SAO | INDY | DET | TEX | MIL | IOW | TOR | EDM | MDO | SNM | BAL | FON | |||||||||
| DallaraDW12 | Lotus DC00V6t | F | Simona de Silvestro | 78 | 24 | 20 | 20 | 24 | 32 | 13 | DNS | 24 | 14 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 17 | 22 | 26 | |||||
