E.J. Viso was upbeat after carving his way up to third place at the finish of Sunday's Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway. It was a career high for the Venezuelan, as well as matching the best-ever result for his KV Racing Technology squad. However, Viso reckons it is an accurate reflection of where the team, which also fields Mario Moraes and Takuma Sato, as well as Paul Tracy for the Canadian races, should be on a regular basis.

“It has been a very tough year for KV Racing Technology,” Viso said. “The team has a lot of great people and drivers and we deserve to be higher in points than where we really are. [Iowa] just showed that we can run and compete with the top teams. This is my first podium in the IZOD IndyCar Series and I want to thank my engineer Bill Pappas and my crew.

“I think it's tough to explain all that we did inside that cockpit, having the car in so many positions in the race,” he added. “When we started the race, we have push, then by the last part, the car is loose, and we just go through all these things that we need to survive.

“KV Racing has so much potential. We had problems earlier in the year with the engine; St. Petersburg, we were leading the race and a bolt broke in the gearbox, then we had some other issues; and in Texas, running top four and I brushed the wall. Finally, here we are on the podium. As a team, we need to be optimistic because we have the tools and good engineers, and I think we are a good bunch of drivers that we're pushing each other out there.”