Catchfence

Following a three-week break in the schedule, the Firestone Indy Lights Series heads to Iowa Speedway for Round Five of competition this Saturday night – the AvoidTheStork.com 100. Located in Newton, just over 30 miles east of Des Moines, the .875-mile oval is the shortest track on the 2010 calendar.

Stefan Wilson will be preparing for his second oval race following an impressive debut in the Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last month. The British talent picked up six positions to finish seventh and attained his goal of completing his first oval event.

Teammate Sebastian Saavedra returns to Iowa Speedway with unfinished business. Saavedra qualified third for last year’s race but lost several laps at the start with a mechanical issue. He had to settle for a 15th-place finish despite setting the fastest lap of the race.

Nine races remain on the schedule entering this weekend and championship points are crucial. Saavedra is currently fifth in the standings with Wilson trailing by only five points in sixth.

Of Note:

- Wilson will be making his 11th Indy Lights start, but only his second on an oval

- Wilson claimed his Indy Lights career-best finish of third at St. Petersburg this year

- Saavedra will be making his 20th Indy Lights start

- Saavedra garnered his best finish this season of third at Barber Motorsport Park, his eighth Indy Lights podium

- Saavedra is a two-time winner in Indy Lights competition with victories at Kansas and Toronto last year

Stefan Wilson, #28 Dallara/Firestone: “This race is going to be completely different to my first oval race. It is a short track oval with steep banking compared to Indy which is two-and-a-half miles with very little banking. It is still going to be a big learning curve and, hopefully, we will roll out of the transporter with a good car and that will help things a lot. Again, it will be another learning curve and the main goal is to learn as much as possible and take home some good points.”

On the championship: “I’m sixth in the championship. We are only 55 points down on the championship lead and there are a lot of races to go. After the DNF we had at Long Beach, we just need to keep our noses clean and keep finishing all the races to try to make that points gap up.”

AT-A-GLANCE… 20 years old from Sheffield, England… currently resides in Indianapolis, Indiana… younger brother of IZOD IndyCar Series race winner Justin Wilson… contested a partial Indy Lights 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: “Last year, I think we had everything to win the race at Iowa. Unfortunately, we had a mechanical problem and I had to come in and I lost a lot of laps. It was a shame because we had a car to win. I was feeling very fast. So this year I come with a lot of momentum and want to do a good job around this place because I like it a lot. There is a huge difference coming from a track like Indy to Iowa. With the amount of banking, the way the car handles changes a lot. It is going to be fun for sure.”

On the championship: “It has been quite an interesting start to the season and there is still a long way to go. We are still very positive on getting back into the championship battle. We will continue working and doing everything we can to improve in every way like our test at Mid-Ohio last week. It was a great test and one that we needed to try a few last things that we wanted. Stefan and I have been working well together to do a good job and we showed, with two different setups, that we were very competitive. This is going to be a fun part of the season.”

AT-A-GLANCE… 20 years old from Bogota, Colombia… currently resides in Indianapolis, Indiana… made his IZOD IndyCar Series debut in the 2010 Indianapolis 500… 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