Hildebrand Clinches Championship in Wild Chicagoland Race

08.31.2009

J.R. Hildebrand, of Sausalito, California, clinched the Firestone Indy Lights Championship this weekend with an extremely hard-fought fifth place finish in the Chicagoland 100. After setting some of the quickest times in Saturday mornings practice, Hildebrand had a fuel pressure issue in qualifying and could only manage 13th on the grid, but was able to work his way up and stay out of harms way to clinch the championship for Andretti Green/AFS Racing.

Hildebrand and his crew got off to a strong start, working on their setup for both qualifying and the race and setting fast times both in and out of traffic. The team went into qualifying confident that they would be a contender for the pole in the race that evening, but when Hildebrand was coming to the green flag he began to experience a fuel pressure issue and couldnt keep the car running at full power during the run. Several other cars had similar issues, so Hildebrand eventually ended up 13th overall.

Its really frustrating, but honestly I feel really bad for the crew at this point, Hildebrand related. We keep having these freak problems and they just keep coming up at extremely bad times! We all work so hard and are prepared so well and then these sort of random failures come out of nowhere. Its not my first rodeo starting at the back on an oval with trouble in qualifying, so hopefully we can make our way up to the front in the race, I know the cars fast.

Hildebrand made quick work of a few cars immediately ahead of him at the start of the race, but then found that it was going to be a difficult task making his way to the front with the lead pack rarely less than three-wide. Cars were bumping and banging throughout the race, leaving Hildebrand in a precarious position trying to make his way through. He eventually decided to sit back in an attempt to avoid being caught up in the mayhem, narrowly avoiding more than one accident. Near the end of the race he ran amongst the leaders, eventually settling for a fifth place finish.

My goal was to get to the front, but before the race I figured that as long as I could at least stay out of trouble I would be okay, Hildebrand said. Little did I know how difficult just staying out of trouble would be! It seemed like everyone was just going for whatever open space there was without thinking twice about it which seemed like a bad combination to me. I was in the right place at the right time  just barely  to avoid the crashes and Im glad to have brought it home.

Having finished the race with an 87 point advantage over second-place, Hildebrand comfortably clinched the Firestone Indy Lights title. After a long year of hard work with a great team behind him, they were finally champions.

Its a dream come true, Hildebrand reveled. I owe so much of it to the team, everyone has done a great job all season long, the car has been fast everywhere we go, and we were able to capitalize on the opportunity. Im so excited for everyone, it will be great to have this long break before the last race and not have to have such a load on all of our shoulders I think!

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.