Catchfence

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.(March 27, 2011) – Duarte Ferreira made his Firestone Indy Lights debut this afternoon at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg finishing eighth in the support race to the IZOD IndyCar Series season opener. It was an impressive start to the season for the 18-year-old from Luanda, Angola, who started 14^th in the #28 LS Sports/Sonangol/BHA entry.

“I am proud of how the team performed this weekend,” said team co-owner Bryan Herta. “We had a nice looking and well turned out car. Duarte did a good job in making progress from the first session through to the race. We turned some of our fastest laps of the weekend in the race. He brought us an eighth-place finish in his first Indy Lights race and that is something we can build on.”

The 45-lap race featured numerous battles throughout the field, and Ferreira was able to benefit from a late-race caution and restart to move into eighth place on Lap 44.

“The race was difficult,” said Ferreira. “This track needs your full concentration. I was battling with understeer at the start but the car was better as the race went on and I turned some of my best laps at the end of the race. I really like this track. I want to thank the team for doing a good job and also my sponsors for making this possible.”

Race Results:
1.  Josef Newgarden – Sam Schmidt Motorsports
2.  Conor Daly – Sam Schmidt Motorsports
3.  Peter Dempsey – 02 Racing Technology
8.  Duarte Ferreira – Bryan Herta Autosport

Bryan Herta Autosport will return to racing action at Barber Motorsports Park on April 10.

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About Bryan Herta Autosport:
Founded by veteran driver Bryan Herta and noted race engineer and team manager Steve Newey, Bryan Herta Autosport (BHA) has been a race-winning team in Firestone Indy Lights competition since 2009. The Indianapolis, Ind.-based squad made its debut in the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2010 contesting the Indianapolis 500. 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