Catchfence

The opening round of the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights Championship will take place this weekend on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. The scenic 1.8-mile, 14-turn downtown circuit has quickly become a driver and fan favorite with its waterfront setting and challenging layout.

BHA team owners Bryan Herta and Steve Newey are eager to begin their second season of competition following a hectic but immensely productive off-season. The team moved to a new race shop in December, brought two new drivers into their stable with the signing of talents Stefan Wilson and Sebastian Saavedra, added key personnel, welcomed the William Rast brand as a full-season sponsor and announced their first foray into the IZOD IndyCar Series with a bid in the Indianapolis 500.

In addition to BHA, both Wilson and Saavedra made their Indy Lights debuts at St. Petersburg last year. The race marked the start of a partial season of competition for Wilson, who contested six races with the First Racing/Walker Racing team. He netted a best finish of fourth on the streets of Toronto. Saavedra began a full season of Indy Lights under the AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing umbrella garnering Rookie of the Year honors with two wins and seven podium finishes.

Of Note:

• Wilson made his U.S. racing debut at St. Petersburg last year, claiming a best result of 13^th in the Indy Lights double-header after falling out of the top 10 due to an on-track incident involving several cars
• Saavedra qualified on pole for the second leg of the double-header at St. Petersburg last year and finished second
• Key personnel hires at BHA include engineer Brian Page, son of veteran broadcaster Paul Page, who hails from Andretti Green Racing, and crew chief Don Lambert, who brings over 20 years of experience in open-wheel competition from Vision Racing, Fernandez Racing and Mo Nunn Racing amongst others

Stefan Wilson, #28 Forsythe Solutions Dallara/Firestone: “I am really looking forward to this weekend. I had a so-so race here last year. It was my first race and only my second day in the car after a shakedown test. I jumped in with a very steep learning curve but I felt we were competitive even straight out of the box. Unfortunately, I made a few unlucky mistakes that cost me some decent finishes. I am looking forward to coming back with a bit more experience and with a really competitive team in Bryan Herta Autosport. Our pre-season testing has gone well. The first time I drove the car I was impressed with how well it handled. I have gelled really well with the team and enjoy working with my engineer Brian Page. I am very excited to have Sebastian as a teammate. He brings a lot of experience with a full season of Indy Lights and I know that is going to help me. He knows what a good car feels like and what we want to achieve. It is great that he is entered in the Indy 500. It really strengthens the whole team. It will be exciting to be there and witness my team compete and, hopefully, it will give me a lot of experience as that is what I am striving to do next year. For now, I am looking forward to the race this weekend. This is one of my favorite tracks on the calendar and I am looking for a good finish here. I am confident we will be a really strong force to be reckoned with this season.”

AT-A-GLANCE… 20 years old from Sheffield, England… currently resides in Indianapolis, Indiana… younger brother of IZOD IndyCar Series race winner Justin Wilson… will be making his seventh Firestone Indy Lights start… contested a partial season with First Racing/Walker Racing in 2009 earning a best finish of fourth at Toronto from six starts… tested the 2008 McLaren-Mercedes championship-winning Formula 1 car in the fall of 2009 as part of his prize for winning the 2007 McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award… finished fourth in the National Class of British Formula 3 in 2008 with three poles and four wins… finished second in 2007 Formula Palmer Audi competition – his first full season of car racing – with four wins and nine podium finishes… at age 17 became the youngest-ever winner of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award and youngest-ever member of the British Racing Drivers Club…made his car racing debut in 2006 in the Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy… started racing cadet karts at age 9.

Sebastian Saavedra, #29 William Rast Dallara/Firestone: “St. Petersburg is one of my favorite tracks, and I am very confident coming here for the second time after the good results last year. Testing has gone great. Our main objective was to get to know each other and start working together, for me to learn how Steve [Newey] works and for him to know how I work. I am very happy with how everything has come together. My relationship with Stefan is great. He is a very good driver who wants to win and that has helped us to have a very good relationship. We have been working well together to make the cars as good as possible. We found some very interesting things at our last test at Sebring which worked very well and will help us this weekend. I think we both will have cars capable of winning. We have the right tools, the right engineering and the right mentality to come to this first race.”

AT-A-GLANCE… 19 years old from Bogota, Colombia… currently resides in Indianapolis, Indiana… will be making his 16^th Firestone Indy Lights start… earned Rookie of the Year honors and finished third in the 2009 Indy Lights Championship with AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing with two poles (St. Petersburg/Toronto), two wins (Kansas/Toronto) and seven podium finishes… finished second and was Rookie of the Year in the 2008 ATS German Formula 3 Cup with four poles, three wins and eight podium finishes… made his car racing debut in 2006 at the age of 15, contesting two years in Formula BMW winning three of six races in Asia and claiming one win, four podiums and six top-six finishes in eight rounds of U.S. competition… began racing karts at age 10 winning the Colombian championship in 2003 and finishing fourth in the Brazilian championship.

About Bryan Herta Autosport:

Founded by veteran driver Bryan Herta and noted race engineer Steve Newey, Bryan Herta Autosport (BHA) debuted in Firestone Indy Lights competition in 2009 claiming one win, five top-five and 15 top-10 results. Herta, an accomplished racer, has won in every series he has contested including the IZOD IndyCar Series, American Le Mans Series and CART in addition to garnering Skip Barber Formula Ford, Barber Saab and Firestone Indy Lights championship titles. Amongst his career highlights are a third-place finish in the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and victory in the LMP2 class at the Twelve Hours of Sebring in 2007. Newey’s racing career spans over 20 years and includes design and race engineering positions in Formula One and winning the 1992 Champ Car World Series title as the race engineer for Bobby Rahal. He was also instrumental in assembling both the Patrick Racing and Mo Nunn Racing teams. For more information, visit www.bryanhertaautosport.com.

- Bryan Herta Autosport, Press Release