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For Immediate Release:
Team USA Scholarship Grad Hildebrand Joins Andretti Green’s A1GP Program
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (November 21, 2008) – Last week, 2005 Team USA Scholarship winner J.R. Hildebrand signed to drive for Andretti Green Racing/AFS Racing in the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights Championship.
That potentially crucial step forward for his career has already paid dividends. Hildebrand, 20, today took advantage of another opportunity to demonstrate his skills on the international stage, participating in the special practice session for rookie drivers in Round Three of the 2008 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
Hildebrand was visiting Southern California earlier this week when he received an urgent phone call from his new employers, who also run Team USA’s A1GP program, asking if he would be available to make the trip to the Sepang International Circuit near Kuala Lumpur.
He certainly was.
Hildebrand immediately headed north to his home in Sausalito, Calif., packed his bags, picked up his race suit and his passport and headed to the San Francisco Airport.
"It was a seven-hour drive back to San Francisco to catch the flight to Malaysia," noted Hildebrand, "but I can’t think of a better way of staying race fit through the winter and going to some really amazing places."
This morning, without even enough time to make him fully comfortable aboard the 600hp, 4.5-liter Ferrari A1GP car, Hildebrand ventured out for the first time onto the challenging 3.44-mile circuit, which also regularly plays host to the Formula 1 Malaysian Grand Prix. Hildebrand’s task was to not take any risks but make a preliminary report to the race engineers, who would then attempt to fine-tune the car for regular A1 Team USA driver Marco Andretti, who was ineligible for the earlier session due to his extensive IndyCar Series experience.
Hildebrand set the eighth fastest time after completing around 20 laps.
"It was a great experience," said Hildebrand, who finished fifth in the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Championship, driving for RLR-Andersen Racing. "I was new to using paddle shift so I had to learn that, but the A1GP car has great power. It would have been nice to have been out there on newer rubber, because you get sent out in the rookie session on race tires from the previous meeting, but it’s the same for everyone. We can’t be pleased with eighth on the time sheets, but I hope that I have provided the team with some good setup information."
Andretti posted the 13th fastest time after taking over behind the wheel for the second afternoon practice session, albeit just 1.3 seconds adrift than the fastest lap of the day set by A1 Team Great Britain’s Danny Watts.
"It really helped having J.R. in the car for the rookie practice," said Andretti. "We’ve still got some work to do but it is showing that we are catching up to the quickest teams."
* In other alumni news, 2000 Team USA Scholarship winner Joey Hand was confirmed recently as one of the drivers for Rahal Letterman Racing’s entry into the hotly contested GT2 category of the American Le Mans Series in 2009. Hand, 29, from Sacramento, Calif., will join fellow BMW stalwart Bill Auberlen aboard one of two of the sensational-looking BMW M3 GT2 cars.
The Team USA Scholarship was founded in 1990 and is proudly supported by Terminal Velocity Processing, Doug Mockett & Company, Aspin Foundations, Road Racing Drivers Club, Firestone Indy Lights Championship, Highcroft Racing, American Honda, Silicon Salvage, McMurry Inc., Dyson Racing, Metalore, The Gorsline Company, Integrated Performance Technology, Andersen Racing Team, PitFit Training, Sparco USA, eFormulaCarNews.com, Speedstar Management, Manifest Group and an array of past Scholarship winners including Jimmy Vasser, Bryan Herta, A.J. Allmendinger, Buddy Rice, Andy Lally, Paul Edwards and Memo Gidley.
For more information, please visit www.TeamUSAScholarship.org.
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