Hildebrand Off to a Strong Start in Firestone Indy Lights Series

04.07.2008

J.R. Hildebrand, of Sausalito, California, has had his work cut out for him as a rookie in the recently renamed Firestone Indy Lights Series, but with three strong drives so far, he has helped his RLR/Andersen Racing team get off to a strong start. Signing on just days before the first race, Hildebrand was thrown in the deep end right away as he had to adapt to a new car, schedule, and series very quickly. He faced immediate challenges in the opening weekend at the 1.5-mile oval at Homestead Miami Speedway having to start last and work his way through the field to finish in the top 10, then heading for the streets of St. Petersburg for last weekend's doubleheader with only a partially rained-out day of testing beforehand. Hildebrand fought hard through each race to grab two top fives and stand on the podium in Race 2, and now sits fourth overall in points just six points out of second, right in the thick of the battle for the championship.

The first race of the season in Homestead, Florida marked Hildebrand's oval racing debut, and what a debut it was. Trying different setups in practice, Hildebrand and teammate Andrew Prendeville worked to improve their cars for the race. Unfortunately Hildebrand was met with mixed results as he battled understeer in the first session, cut a tire in Turns 3 and 4 in the second session sending him into a 180mph four wheel drift all the way onto the front straight, and was unable to qualify due to a fuel pickup issue.

Starting last on the grid (23rd), Hildebrand spend much of the first 50 laps picking off his competitors one-by-one and conserving his tires until a caution came out with 15 laps to go. Hildebrand worked his way up to as high as sixth after passing his teammate who had started fourth, but after being forced down to the apron with two to go, he had to settle for 10th in the end. Even so, his harge through the field he let everyone know that he will be right in the thick of it next time out.

"I had my fair share of excitement in Homestead, that's for sure," Hildebrand said afterward. "I really think I could have hauled in up into the top five there at the end, but (Rafael) Matos and Wade (Cunningham) both checked up and put me out, so the three of us got passed on the outside. At that point, especially after the cut tire in practice, I was just happy to finish the weekend with the car in one piece!"

All the teams had to quickly turn the cars around for testing on Monday at the Sebring International Short Course, as they would then be off to St. Petersburg for the first of four road-course doubleheader events this year. Hildebrand and the team worked on various combinations in the morning and then again late in the afternoon as heavy rain passed through mid-day. He was able to get some valuable laps in the wet, but ended the day with some question marks going into the St. Pete races as they were not able to get through everything they had planned.

Back on more familiar territory, he gave the team a lift in Friday practice in St. Pete, outrunning his teammate to post the fourth-quickest time in the morning session, and the second-quickest time in the afternoon, less than a tenth of a second slower than Rafael Matos who was P1. The following day, the Indy Lights cars qualified and raced just after the American Le Mans Series cars ran on track, substantially changing the track. Hildebrand and the RLR/Andersen team struggled to find the right combination to match the conditions, and ended up sixth in qualifying after getting mired in traffic.

In Race 1, Hildebrand got a fantastic start, passing two cars into the first corner and managed to come away with fifth at the line after a tough drive. Starting fifth for Sunday's race, he again worked his way through the pack at the beginning of the race, and by making smart moves and narrowly avoiding disaster on several occasions, grabbed second overall when the checkered flag flew.

"First off, I'm really happy for the team that we could pull it all together this weekend," Hildebrand stated. "We really could have used those couple hours that we missed out on at Sebring because I know that Dominic (Cape - team engineer) has some things we need to try that will make a big difference with our road-course car. We were sitting pretty with a really good car until the ALMS rubber went down and then we fell off when the other guys up front got better or stayed the same. It was a little more work than I was expecting, but I feel like we got on track this weekend and can really start pushing from here."

Hildebrand is now fourth in points in a close chase for the championship. Richard Antinucci leads with 112, Rafael Matos is second with 96, Dillon Battistini is third with 91, and Hildebrand is fourth with 90. With as much adversity as he has had, particularly in comparison to the rest of the top five in points, Hildebrand is confident in his chances this year and his position so far.

"It's been a wild season already, but we've put our heads down and driven through it," he related. "We aren't doing this to finish second, or to be a top five car, I'm not here to end up a top five driver, we're here to win. With a little work and some time together to sort out what we need to do, I honestly believe that we will be the guys that everyone else needs to beat."

Next up for the Indy Lights Series is an open test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway followed by the second oval race of the year at Kansas Speedway on the 27th of April.