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Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
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E-mail: LindaKMansfield@cs.com
RLR/Andersen Finishes Eighth and 12th
Saturday at Iowa Speedway
NEWTON, Iowa, June 21 - RLR/Andersen Racing's J.R. Hildebrand and Andrew
Prendeville brought their cars back to the paddock in one piece, which is always
a challenge at Iowa Speedway, after finishing eighth and 12th, respectively,
after 115 laps of torrid competition in the Jeld-Wen 100 Firestone Indy Lights
race Saturday.
Hildebrand, of Sausalito, Calif. and Indianapolis, started seventh in the
Allied Building Products No. 25 and was never out of the top 10. Prendeville, of
Las Vegas, advanced five positions with his Best Friends Animal Society No. 5,
as he started 17th.
Neither drivers' positions in the championship changed after Saturday's
points were tabulated. Hildebrand is still third, and Prendeville is still tenth.
Raphael Matos, who is fourth in the point standings, was one of Hildebrand's
primary rivals during Saturday's race. They started side-by-side, and Matos
got by him in the early going to push Hildebrand to eighth. Hildebrand got
seventh on lap eight when he passed Brent Sherman, and he ran many subsequent laps
in that spot, sandwiched between Matos and Sherman.
Matos was able to move up to fifth by lap 16. Hildebrand stayed in seventh
and was chasing Ana Beatriz at that point. Sherman got around him on lap 23 to
push him back to eighth. He remained in eighth until Pablo Donoso relegated him
to ninth right before Travis Gregg spun in Turn 4 to bring out the second
caution flag on lap 42.
Hildebrand passed Donoso on lap 49 to regain eighth place. Matos then fell
back, and soon Matos was once again the driver directly in front of Hildebrand.
Around lap 77 Hildebrand fell back one spot to ninth when Donoso repassed him.
Donoso was able to move further up in the field, eventually finishing fifth.
At lap 80 Hildebrand was still in ninth, and once again trying to pass Matos.
He had two bullets to dodge in the meantime, however. Jonny Reid crashed
right in front of Hildebrand in Turn 4 on lap 105, but somehow he missed getting
involved. He was still in ninth place, running between Jeff Simmons and Marc
Williams, for the restart on lap 114. He had another close call when Bobby
Wilson crashed at the very end of the race. That moved Hildebrand up to eighth at
the checkered, with the same driver he was battling at the beginning, Matos,
right in front of him.
Prendeville started 17th in the 22-car field, and since it's very hard to
pass here he had his hands full right from the start. He stayed in 17th in the
early going. Sean Guthrie, who like Prendeville usually runs in the front,
passed him on lap 13 to push him back to 18th on lap 13. Micky Gilbert also got
by him two laps later to relegate him to 19th, but Prendeville kept digging and
was always able to stay on the lead lap.
Gregg's spin on lap 42 moved Prendeville back into 18th position. Prendeville
passed Gilbert on the restart on lap 47 to regain 17th, but then Gilbert got
by him one lap later to push him back to 18th. He ran his fastest lap of the
race on lap 52, which was when he was in the most danger of going a lap down.
He was able to stay on the lead lap, however, and he got 17th place back on
lap 57. By lap 66 he was still in 17th, but he was running between two drivers
who are also usually higher up, James Davison and Logan Gomez.
Gomez passed him on lap 84 to push him back to 18th, and four laps later he
was the last driver on the lead lap. He regained 17th on his next trip around
the seven-eighths mile trioval, giving Gomez the distinction of being the last
driver on the lead lap at that point.
Prendeville passed Davison for 16th place on lap 96. He got 15th on lap 100,
and was still in that spot when Reid crashed five laps later. That moved him
up to 14th, sandwiched between Gilbert and Gomez. He passed Gilbert one more
time before everything was over. Coupled with Wilson's crash at the end,
Prendeville ended up 12th in the final rundown. He finished all 115 laps for the fans
who made donations to the Best Friends Animal Society's relief efforts for
Iowa's recent floods at racinglapsforbestfriends.com too.
Point leader Dillon Battistini won the race over polesitter Arie Luyendyk Jr.
and Beatriz.
ESPN2 will telecast the race on a tape-delayed basis at 5:30 p.m. Eastern
time June 26.
The most important day in Firestone Indy Lights history is next, as the
series will hold two races on the same day for the first time ever July 5 at
Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, N.Y.
Andersen Racing is sponsored by Allied Building Products Corp. It is the
official development team of Rahal Letterman Racing.
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: "The Allied Interior Products car was O.K. We had an
understeer the first part of the race, but I had trouble moving the weight jacker
because I needed to be on the straightaways to do that, and I didn't have much
time. I could move the bars though, so I worked with it trying to make it
better.
"On the first caution I was able to move the weight jacker, and I moved it a
bunch. It made the car way loose from that point on. Later I backed it off
all the distance I'd turned it plus some, but the conditions must have changed
or something else was going on, because it was still wicked loose. Maybe a
tire was going down; we'll have to look at the data and see if we can figure out
what happened.
"I had a couple really close calls when Reid and Wilson spun. I was behind
them at the time and I almost drilled both of them.
"The guys did a great job. Be sure you put that in. The RLR/Andersen
engineers and mechanics did a really good job all weekend. But I'll be glad to move
back to a road course, for sure."
Andrew Prendeville: "The Best Friends Animal Society car was fine; the
RLR/Andersen guys did a great job with the car this weekend, as they usually do.
"We were able to pick up five spots, and we finished all 115 laps for Racing
Laps for Best Friends.
"I had an exciting moment in Turn 2 on one of the restarts, but no contact
with anybody."
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.