Coletti signed to second KV Racing seat in IndyCar - MotorSportsTalk

Following his successful test at NOLA Motorsports Park last month, Monegasque GP2 veteran Stefano Coletti has been confirmed for the second Verizon IndyCar Series seat at KV Racing Technology alongside KVSH Racing driver Sebastien Bourdais.

A report from ItaliaRacing.net out Monday said Coletti would be en route to Indianapolis to prepare for what should be a hectic upcoming testing schedule, in advance of what would be a full season in the No. 4 KV Racing Technology Chevrolet.

The team has now confirmed the signing this morning.

“I’ve always wanted to race in IndyCar and have the opportunity to live overseas,” Coletti said in a team release. “It’s a great championship and the competition is very high!

“When I tested with KV Racing Technology at NOLA a few weeks ago, there was a great atmosphere and the whole team really welcomed me, so I can’t wait to get to Indianapolis and start working with the No. 4 crew and getting to know everyone better.

“It’s a great opportunity to be on the same team as a driver like Sebastien Bourdais who his very experienced, very quick and a nice person to work with. I couldn’t have asked for better for my rookie year! I really would like to thank Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser and also KVRT’s General Manager, Steve Moore, for making this possible and look forward to an exciting year with the team!”

KVSH Racing and KV Racing Technology will test at NOLA again on March 14, and then are en route to Barber Motorsports Park for IndyCar’s spring training session March 16-17. A further test at Sebring would follow after the track completes the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, which runs March 21.

Coletti spent parts of five seasons, including four full seasons, in GP2. He never won the title or finished better than fifth in the standings, but he did regularly beat his teammates, and won a total of seven races – including his last start at Abu Dhabi.

Now that Coletti has got the nod, it will leave either two or three seats left to fill for the season opener at St. Petersburg. Dale Coyne Racing is yet to confirm its two drivers, while Andretti Autosport has not officially confirmed its fourth car.

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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