Catchfence

WEST ALLIS, Wisc. – Bryan Herta Autosport technical partner Vision Racing’s driver James Davison earned his first top-five finish of the season today at The Milwaukee Mile in the Firestone Indy Lights Husar’s House of Diamonds 100. Teammate Daniel Herrington, of Bryan Herta Autosport, had a strong run going as well until he spun on lap 86 and made contact with the inside wall of turn four. He finished in the 14th position.

Starting from the seventh position in the No. 21 People’s Liberation/Vision Racing Dallara/Firestone, Davison ran a clean and smart race. With mishaps and miscues by his competitors causing the caution flag to come out on lap two and five, Davison took advantage of each restart to eventually jump to the fourth position.

He ran in fourth place for much of the race until lapped traffic slowed his pace causing Sebastian Saavedra to overtake him on lap 85. From there Davison held on to finish fifth; his best result of the season to date. It is also Vision Racing’s best Indy Lights result at The Milwaukee Mile after driver Jay Drake started and finished sixth here in 2005.

In six races, Davison has four top-tens and now a top-five finish to add to his resume. As a result, he’s moved up from 10th to ninth in the Firestone Indy Lights points championship.

Unfortunately for Herrington, the race didn’t end as desired. Starting from the 11th spot in the No. 28 Le Bleu/BHA Dallara/Firestone car, Herrington also took advantage of the early cautions to enter the top-ten. On lap 26 he finally got around Pippa Mann for ninth and kept on charging.

After the caution came out for Jonathan Summerton on lap 51, Herrington used the race restart on lap 59 to advance to the eighth spot which is where he ran until he lost control of the rear-end of the car in turn four on lap 86, spun, and made significant contact with the inside wall.

Herrington was relegated to a 14th place finish and his first DNF of the season and just his second career DNF in 19 Firestone Indy Lights starts. It is also the first time Herrington has finished outside of the top-ten this season. In his previous five starts, he’s finished in the top-five one and the top-ten four more times. His incident today moved him down from seventh to eighth in the championship point standings.

The Milwaukee Husar’s House of Diamonds 100 Firestone Indy Lights race will be broadcast on Monday, June 1st at 4 pm ET on VERSUS.

Firestone Indy Lights action resumes Saturday, June 20 at Iowa Speedway for the Jeld-Wen 100. Television coverage of the race begins at 4 p.m. (ET), Monday, June 22 on VERSUS.

Race Results and Quotes: (May 31, 2009)

Daniel Herrington – No. 28 Le Bleu/BHA Dallara/Honda/Firestone

Finishing Position: 14th

Qualifying Position: 11th

On accident/race:
“We had a little bit of push in the car all day and that was the first time it gave any indication that it was loose and so then it stepped out pretty suddenly and that caught me off guard; then I was just along for the ride. It was a pretty disappointing way to end the race because there wasn’t very much further to go in the race and we had a decent run up until then. That’s not the way that I saw this weekend going, but sometimes you have those (accidents).”

James Davison – No. 21 People’s Liberation/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone

Finishing Position: 5th

Qualifying Position: 7th

On race:

“The one thing that I’m most happy about today was our racecar. We had a good car that didn’t go off, and that was able to race with the power teams like AGR and Schmidt, so we’ve got to be very happy with that. As a result we got a top-five finish. I drove the right race and just made sure that I protected the right rear tire so that the car didn’t go loose. Unfortunately we caught a little bit of traffic and got side-by-side and there was nowhere to go and (Sebastian) Saavedra got a run on me. So we could’ve potentially had a fourth place finish which is where we ran the majority of the race, but we’ve got to be happy with a top-five. We’re starting to learn the ropes and learn all of these things that a new team has to in order to compete at the front of a competitive series like this one.”

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About Bryan Herta Autosport: Bryan Herta Autosports is owned and operated by veteran driver Bryan Herta and Steve Newey and will field a car in the Indy Lights Series for the first time in 2009 with driver Daniel Herrington.

Bryan Herta enjoyed considerable success in the lower formulae, winning the Barber Formula Ford and Barber Saab series championships, and dominating the 1993 Indy Lights championship, then graduating to IndyCar racing in 1994. As of 2006, Herta has started in the Indianapolis 500 five times (1994-1995, 2004-2006) with three top ten finishes, including a best of third (3rd) in 2005. Herta moved to American Lemans Sports Cars full time in 2007. He joined Vision Racing as Road Course Consultant for the 2008 season and will continue that role through 2009.

Steve Newey has been involved at the highest level of professional auto racing for over 20 years. Subsequent to earning his engineering degree, Newey lived in England where he was a design and race engineer in Formula One. On his return to the United States, he engineered the car driven by Bobby Rahal that won the IndyCar World Series Championship in 1992. Newey assembled the Patrick Racing in 1993 then helped put together Mo Nunn Racing in 1999. In 2003, he took over as Vice president of Operations at Kelley Racing. Most recently Newey lent his expertise in Sportscar series, namely with Andretti Green Racing and their ALMS program.

- Bryan Herta Autosport/Vision Racing, Press Release