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RLR/Andersen's Hildebrand Finishes Sixth
And Prendeville Places Eighth
In Second Half of Mid-Ohio Doubleheader Sunday
LEXINGTON, Ohio, July 20 - It was a bizarre race, but it was still two top-10
finishes for RLR/Andersen Racing in Firestone Indy Lights action Sunday at
the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
A thunderstorm delayed the race for an hour and caused it to be shorted from
40 laps to a timed event that ended up being 20 laps long. Numerous spins and
crashes on the wet course gave the race's lap chart a plot with more twists
than a soap opera, but in the end the Palmetto, Fla.-based team's J.R.
Hildebrand placed sixth and Andrew Prendeville finished eighth in the second half of
the weekend doubleheader.
Hildebrand spun out twice in the team's Allied Building Products No. 25,
while Prendeville went around once at the start with his Best Friends Animal
Society No. 5. Many of their rivals had similar or even worse experiences in the
wild race, however.
Hildebrand started fifth. He dropped to eighth initially, and then fell back
to 17th when he spun with four laps complete. He regrouped to 13th by lap
eight, but then spun again to be back in 18th position with nine laps down. He
was able to quickly make up three spots, although at that point he was the last
driver on the lead lap.
Drivers in front of him were having similar problems, and in the last 5
minutes of the race Hildebrand went from 12th to sixth. He got one spot when
leader Mitch Cunningham wrecked with 18 laps down, three more when Robbie Pecorari,
Richard Antinucci and Logan Gomez crashed with 19 laps complete, and another
one when he passed Sean Guthrie. The final position was a present from leader
Jonny Reid. He had the race wrapped up, but due to a miscue he pitted on the
last lap instead of taking the checkered flag, giving Hildebrand sixth and
James Davison the victory.
Prendeville started ninth. He said the spray was so bad he couldn't even see
where he was when he spun on the first lap. He wasn't the only one to do
that, as Saturday's winner, Raphael Matos; Cyndie Allemann and Wade Cunningham
also went around on the initial green. Arie Luyendyk Jr. went for a ride on lap
two as well.
Prendeville started over from 19th position on lap two. He was 17th by lap
four, and he was scored in 16th or 15th for the next few laps. He had a great
restart on lap eight, vaulting to 12th, and he cracked the top 10 again on lap
10 when Franck Perera and Luyendyk had problems.
Prendeville stayed in tenth through lap 13, dropped to 11th on lap 14, and
regained tenth on lap 15. He dropped to 12th again on lap 17, but he benefited
from some of his rivals' problems like Hildebrand did to move into ninth with
19 laps down. He got eighth when Reid pitted prematurely.
James Davison ended up being the surprise winner, with Wade Cunningham second
and Pablo Donoso third.
Hildebrand is still fourth in the point standings after Sunday's race, just
51 points behind leader Antinucci and nine points ahead of the fifth-place
driver, Luyendyk. Prendeville moved up one spot to tenth place in the
championship with four races remaining.
RLR/Andersen Racing, which is sponsored by Allied Building Products Corp., is
fourth in the entrant standings with the No. 25. The team, which is the
official development team of Hilliard, Ohio's Rahal Letterman Racing, is ninth in
the entrant points with the No. 5 car.
ESPN2 will show both Saturday and Sunday's races at 2 p.m. Eastern on
Thursday, July 24.
The circuit now travels to Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky., for a night race
on Aug. 9. A doubleheader at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Aug. 23-24
and the season finale at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., on Sept. 7 follow.
The team's Web sites are at andersenracingteam.com and andersenracepark.com.
More information on the Firestone Indy Lights series is available at
indycar.com/lights.
Post-race quotes follow:
J.R. Hildebrand: "I think we would have had a really good race car in the
dry, but the Allied Building Products was really loose in the wet conditions. I
think it would have been super-fast in the dry, but when the rain came right
before the race there wasn't much we could do with the set-up, and I was just
really hanging onto it.
"I spun on my own twice; once coming out of Turn 8 and once coming out of
Turn 1. I made contact two other times at the end of the race, but that was just
being in tight corners with other cars.
"I was glad to bring it home in sixth. We made up some points. It should
make the rest of the year very interesting in the points race.
"Yes, in terms of the number of cars crashing and spinning, this was the most
bizarre race I've ever been in. A lot of the top drivers in this series are
very good in the wet; we just got caught out today in a mismatched situation."
Andrew Prendeville: "I'm glad it's over. I can't tell you where I spun
because I couldn't see.
"We finished all the laps possible this weekend, although that ended up being
60 laps and not 80 because of the thunderstorm. I want to thank everyone who
made donations to Best Friends at racinglapsforbestfriends.com."
John Andersen (team co-owner): "The best thing I can say about this weekend
is that we came away with four top-10s.
"We solidified our position in the point standings. It's not exactly what we
expected coming in, but given the circumstances and the weather today, we'll
take it. We didn't damage any cars, and now we'll get ready for Kentucky."
Sunday's stats:
Warmup (8 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.):
1. Pablo Donoso, 1:18.1539, 104.010 mph
8. J.R. Hildebrand, 1:19.7391, 101.942 mph
17. Andrew Prendeville, 1:22.0409, 99.082 mph
Race 2 (11:35 a.m.):
1. James Davison
6. J.R. Hildebrand
8. Andrew Prendeville
About Allied Building Products Corp.:
Allied Building Products Corp., headquartered in East Rutherford, N.J., is
one of the largest roofing and siding distributors in the United States. Founded
in 1950 with five employees and two trucks, today it is a $1.8 billion
building material distribution company with over 3,500 employees, more than 200
branches in 30 states, well over one million square feet of office and warehouse
space, and an inventory of approximately 85,000 products, from residential
roofing and siding to doors, windows, waterproofing, manufactured stone, interior
products and commercial roofing systems. For more information see
alliedbuilding.com.
About Andersen Racing:
Andersen Racing strives to provide the best and most comprehensive training
possible for future open-wheel superstars while giving its marketing partners
media exposure and hospitality opportunities at some of the most prestigious
events in North America. It provides a unique, three-step program utilizing
multiple entries in three different series: the F2000 Championship (webcast), Star
Mazda (televised on SPEED) and Firestone Indy Lights (televised on ESPN2). In
2008 it will field multiple entries in 42 races in 19 states and provinces at
some of the best facilities on the continent, including the famed
Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Andersen Racing's principals, brother Dan and John Andersen, have extensive
experience in series administration as well as team management. They've worked
with many of today's top open-wheel stars, including several Indy 500 winners.
Andersen Racing is sponsored by Allied Building Products Corp. It is the
official development team of Rahal Letterman Racing, which competes in the IndyCar
Series. In addition, its F2000 team is also the official factory team of Van
Diemen. The team is headquartered at Andersen RacePark, an 18-acre facility
in Palmetto, Fla. that includes a 1-mile test track. For more information see
andersenracingteam.com and andersenracepark.com.