Hildebrand Closes in on Championship with Dominant Win in Sonoma

08.24.2009

J.R. Hildebrand, of Sausalito, California, took clear control of the Firestone Indy Lights Championship with a commanding win from pole position at his home track of Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Hildebrand will head to the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois this weekend with a 90 point advantage after his closest championship rivals ran into trouble through the weekend, all but clinching the title.

Hildebrand and his Andretti Green/AFS Racing crew got off to a great start, making small changes to prepare for qualifying while also setting the fastest time in Saturday mornings practice. He and the team made small adjustments before qualifying, then got to work, setting quick time for nearly the entire session. On his last set of tires with just a few minutes remaining, Hildebrand set a time that would ultimately put him on pole by over four tenths of a second ahead of his teammate and closest title contender Sebastian Saavadra.

We really hit the nail on the head for qualifying, Hildebrand related. Its nearly impossible to pass cars that are roughly the same speed around here in the race, so we really needed to make it happen and we did. We made the right calls before the session and the boys did a great job putting it all together.

Hildebrand knew that if he could manage to win that it would go a long way toward turning his championship aspirations into a reality. Saavedra then incurred an unfortunate penalty after the AFS #27 crew was forced to change an engine after the morning warm up and would start at the rear of the field. Unfazed, Hildebrand got off to a strong start and never looked back. He set fastest lap of the race by more than half a second and finished with a 15.9 second advantage over second place at the checkered flag.

I cant even begin to explain how satisfying it is to have such a great weekend on home turf, Hildebrand said. We had a lot of friends and family here for the race, so it really wouldnt have been much better. The car was incredible, it made my job easy. It was a lousy deal that Sebastian had to start at the back, but he did a good job moving up through the field and now well be headed to Chicago where well both be strong so Im really looking forward to that.

Hildebrand 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