Hildebrand Snags Podium, Extends Points Lead at Mid Ohio

08.10.2009

J.R. Hildebrand, of Sausalito, California, emerged with a well-deserved podium finish from the Mid Ohio 100 at the Mid Ohio Sportscar Course on Sunday, extending his points lead over teammate Sebastian Saavedra. Hildebrand and his Andretti Green/AFS Racing team suffered from freak mechanical issues through the weekend, but were able to work through them and make the most of their time on track to finish with another strong result.

Hildebrand and his team started the weekend strong, posting quick times in practice despite a faulty battery that set them out for much of the lone practice session. Heading into qualifying the weather took a turn and it began to rain, but it looked as though the track would dry out before the end of the session. Hildebrand and the team adjusted for the conditions well through the session, and were able to squeeze out a lap good for third on the grid just before a full course caution came out toward the end of the session.

It was a bit of a rough day to be honest, Hildebrand noted. We tested at Watkins Glen instead of testing here unlike most of the other teams, so we had a bit of work to do but just ran out of time this morning. Then this session was a bit of a mess with the rain coming through. We need to get a few little things under control and work on our plan for tomorrow, but on the whole I think were looking pretty good.

Hildebrand was able to post the second fastest time in the morning warm-up on Sunday, making changes through the session to get ready for the race. He got off to a good start in the race and pressured second-place James Hinchcliffe for the opening laps until he began to battle an increasing amount of understeer that kept him from staying as close to the leaders. He continued to fight at the front and stayed within a second of Hinchcliffe for most of the race, eventually coming home a close third.

It was pretty tough out there, Hildebrand related. The car was really loose this morning, then we found a couple things that we thought might have been the problem but it was sort of unknown. We definitely got rid of the looseness, but the understeer then became very hard to drive around. It was like qualifying every lap for me to keep up with Hinchcliffe, but everyones done a great job to recover from last weekend, and now we can focus on making sure were right on the money for Infineon and Chicago.

After not turning a lap at Kentucky just one week ago, Hildebrand has now rebuilt much of his points lead, now entering the final three races of the season with a 63 point advantage on the rest of the field. He would like to thank his Andretti Green/AFS Racing crew, along with ARPRO, Bald Spot Sports, Doug Mockett and Company and the Racemaker Press for their continued support.