Hildebrand Off to Milwaukee With Points Lead After Strong Run at Indy

05.22.2009

Indianapolis, Ind.  May 27, 2009

J.R. Hildebrand, of Sausalito, California, will head to the historic Milwaukee Mile this weekend for Round Six of the Firestone Indy Lights Series. He enters the weekend with the championship points lead, after finishing a strong second in the Freedom 100 last week. Hildebrand arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway sitting fourth in points following some bad luck with a flat tire in the previous round, but got back on track in strong form. He now heads on to Milwaukee with the momentum to continue his teams charge to the championship.

Hildebrand and his Andretti Green/AFS Racing team arrived at Indianapolis last week on the back of a strong test day earlier in the month, and were focused on getting the most out of their car for both qualifying and the race. Throughout practice they worked on both their speed in traffic and by themselves, posting the third and second fastest times in the two sessions. Unfortunately, Hildebrand drew an early qualifying spot and was hampered by a slight headwind, but he and his team still managed to put the ARPRO #26 car on the inside of the second row in third position.

I was a little disappointed after qualifying because we had been pretty sure that we had a good shot at the pole, but we just got caught up in the conditions, I think, Hildebrand related. We came back in and looked at the data compared to my teammate Sebastian and thats pretty much all there was to it. I knew that we had a good racecar, so I wasnt too concerned.

Hildebrand got a good start in the race and in the first ten laps of the race swapped positions several time with polesitter Wade Cunningham, teammate Sebastian Saavedra, and fourth-place starter Ana Beatriz while finding where his car was going to be quickest. On lap 16 Hildebrand drafted by Cunningham and Saavedra to take the lead, and held that position until lap 38. During that time, Hildebrand fought off numerous attempts to take the top spot from the rest of the top four, but began to realize that it was only a matter of time until someone would be able to get the same run that he did to take the lead away. With the laps winding down, he worked to adjust his car to leading the race as best he could, knowing that if he could just stay in the top two or three and not get shuffled back he would likely exit as the series points leader. Series veteran Cunningham, who won the Firestone Indy Lights Championship in 2005, got a run by J.R. with less than two laps remaining and Hildebrand was not quite able to get back by, as the two crossed the finish line just a tenth of a second apart.

I was definitely frustrated for the race to end like that after leading so many laps, but I knew that was the risk you run by leading for so long, Hildebrand said. With all the late race cautions I really had no choice but to just try to maintain the lead without running out of time. Then when Wade got by, I found myself struggling with the car in the draft for the next lap because I hadnt run behind anyone for over 20 laps and the car's balance had changed. I guess I didnt expect going into it that we would be fast enough to lead for so long, so we geared and set up the car to be in traffic, and it just didnt turn out that way. At any rate, the team has done a great job, and its nice to finally be sitting where I think we should have been all along.

Hildebrand would like to thank his Andretti Green/AFS Racing team, ARPRO, Doug Mockett and Company, Bald Spot Sports, The Racemaker Press, and all his supporting sponsors for their continued help and support.