Catchfence

An incident in the opening stages of the Drive Smart. Buckle-Up Kentucky 100 Firestone Indy Lights race ended the day early for both Bryan Herta Autosport entries at the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway oval this afternoon. Philip Major spun on his own on Lap 2 of the 67-lap event, unfortunately collecting BHA drivers Stefan Wilson and Daniel Herrington. All three drivers were checked at the infield medical center and released.

Herrington was making his first Indy Lights start since Homestead of last year, returning to BHA to take over driving duties of the #29 William Rast machine from Sebastian Saavedra. Wilson, making his fourth career oval start, suffered the hardest impact of the two team cars. He was credited with a 14th-place result and Herrington a 12th-place finish. The race was won by Pippa Mann who brought home her first Indy Lights victory.

Bryan Herta Autosport will regroup and head to the series season finale on October 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla.

Stefan Wilson, #28 Dallara / Firestone: “Coming out of [Turn] Four, there was a car that had already spun up ahead. I tried to avoid it but I had the #29 car on the high side of me and I just had nowhere to go. I tried to go low and just clipped the front end [of Major’s car] and that was the end of my race. We knew the race was going to be difficult from my end; it is still only my fourth oval so we are trying to keep learning and run every lap on the ovals to get as much experience for next year as possible. Unfortunately, today was a big blow.”

Daniel Herrington, #29 William Rast Dallara / Firestone: “We got off to a conservative start and wanted to get a few laps under our belt before I started moving forward. Unfortunately, when you start at the back, everything that happens is in front of you. Philip Major spun in front of us and we didn’t have anywhere to go around him. Both teammates were taken out because of it. It was a really tough day. I was happy that Bryan [Herta] gave me a shot to get back in the car and I’m sorry to let him down like that. The car felt really comfortable from the start and I had already made up a couple of places. I was confident we were going to have a great result.”

Bryan Herta, Team Co-Owner: “It was a tough day for Bryan Herta Autosport but we are thankful that all of the drivers involved in the incident are okay. We’ll regroup and move on from here.”

About Bryan Herta Autosport:

Founded by veteran driver Bryan Herta and noted race engineer and team manager 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 as well as team manager/technical director roles in IndyCar, American Le Mans and Grand-Am competition. Among his highlights are the 1992 Champ Car World Series title as the race engineer for Bobby Rahal, the 2006 Grand-Am Daytona Prototype Driver’s Championship with Krohn Racing’s Jorg Bergmeister and victory in the Twelve Hours of Sebring in 2007 as race engineer for Andretti Green Racing and drivers Bryan Herta, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan. He was also instrumental in assembling the Patrick Racing Firestone test team and served as team manager for drivers Scott Pruett and Adrian Fernandez. For more information, visit www.bryanhertaautosport.com.

- Bryan Herta Autosport Press Release