For more information:
Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
E-mail: LindaKMansfield@cs.com
Cell: 317-201-0729
RLR/Andersen Racing's Prendeville
Qualifies Fourth for Homestead Season Opener
HOMESTEAD, Fla., March 28 - Although the Indy Pro Series' name changed to the
Firestone Indy Lights Series earlier this week, the RLR/Andersen Racing team
wasn't worrying about decals and patches Friday night at Homestead-Miami
Speedway. The Palmetto, Fla.-based team concentrated on the task at hand instead
and saw one of its drivers, Andrew Prendeville, qualify fourth for tomorrow's
season opener here at 12:30 p.m.
Driving the Best Friends Animal Society No. 5, the Las Vegas-based driver did
two laps of Homestead's 1.5-mile oval in 57.4673 seconds for an average speed
of 186.054 miles per hour to earn the right to start outside of Row 2 for the
Miami 100, a 67-lap (100-mile) event. His fastest lap of the two, a 28.7100,
was only 0.2194 of a second slower than the fastest lap set by the polesitter,
Raphael Matos. Prendeville's two laps were clocked in 28.7100 and 28.7573
seconds, respectively.
The top five were Matos, Dillon Battistini, Sean Guthrie, Prendeville and
Richard Antinucci.
Prendeville's RLR/Andersen Racing teammate, series rookie J.R. Hildebrand of
Indianapolis, will begin his first oval-track race ever in scratch, or 23rd
position. A rare problem with the fuel system caused his Allied Building
Products Corp. No. 25 to refuse to fire for the qualifying session, so Hildebrand was
unable to make a qualifying attempt.
"What happened was the fuel-line disconnect popped off sometime after we went
through tech," explained RLR/Andersen Racing co-owner John Andersen. "You're
not allowed to do anything to the car after it goes through tech, so we
didn't know we had a problem until J.R. tried to start the car for qualifying.
There wasn't anything we could do about it; it was just one of those things."
Earlier in the day Prendeville "won" practice, as he set the fastest time run
during either of the two-hour practice sessions. His tenth lap in the first
practice session (28.6783 for an average speed of 186.413 mph) was the fastest
lap any of the 23 drivers ran in the 1,262 total laps they turned in prac
tice.
Hildebrand ended up 15th on the combined practice sessions report with a
29.0685 (183.910 mph) that he ran on his fourth lap of the 31 laps he completed in
the first practice session. He was 12th overall in that first session.
Prendeville was fifth overall in the second practice session later in the
afternoon when the temperatures were higher, posting a 28.8959 (185.009 mph) on
his third of 22 laps he ran that time. Hildebrand was 17th overall in that
session, also run on his third lap, with a 29.2203 (182.955 mph), but he only got
to run 14 laps in that session due to an incident between Turn 3 and 4 when
he cut a tire and nicked the inside wall. He made a nice save to keep the
damage minimal, and after the crew replaced the car's front wing and its tires
Hildebrand was able to continue in the session.
Tomorrow afternoon's race will be covered live on the Internet at
indycar.com/pro, and also at 4 p.m. April 3 on ESPN2. All times are Eastern.
After tomorrow's season opener at Homestead the Firestone Indy Lights Series
will compete in a doubleheader that is part of the Honda Grand Prix of St.
Petersburg on Saturday and Sunday, April 5-6, on that Florida city's street
course. Those races will be carried live on indycar.com/pro and also shown on ESPN2
at 2 p.m. April 10.
RLR/Andersen Racing is sponsored by Allied Building Products Corp. It is the
development team of Rahal Letterman Racing. Its Web sites are at
andersenracingteam.com and andersenracepark.com.
Prendeville also represents the Best Friends Animal Society (see
racinglapsforbestfriends.com), while Hildebrand's sponsors include Mockett.com and
Formotion Products.
Post-qualifying quotes follow:
Andrew Prendeville: "I thought it was a good run; it was a lot better than we
did in qualifying here last year. Last year we started 21st and finished
fifth in the race.
"Last year we ran well in a lot of the races but we didn't always qualify
well. This year we really wanted to qualify better, and tonight we did.
"For a little bit I was on the pole, but by the time I got my helmet off I
was second, and I ended up fourth.
"The team is doing a great job."
J.R. Hildebrand: "The problem in qualifying was nobody's fault. The team has
been doing a great job. We had a problem with the fuel system that made us
unable to get out for qualifying, that's all.
"Earlier in the day I had a big save between 3 and 4 when a tire went down.
I just flicked the front wing plate on the inside wall. I brought it in and
the crew got me back out quickly. It felt good afterwards. I think for the
race tomorrow we should be just fine."
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 the Indy Pro Series (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 and the American Le Mans 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.