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RLR/Andersen Racing Ready to Start 2008
Indy Pro Series
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03/26/2008
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By Linda Mansfield, Restart
Communications
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 PALMETTO,
Fla., March 26 - There's no place like
Home(stead) for RLR/Andersen Racing, unless of
course it's the team's new "home" race, the
Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Both are on the docket for the Palmetto,
Fla.-based team's Indy Pro Series squad in the
next two weeks. Drivers Andrew Prendeville of
Las Vegas (Best Friends Animal Society No. 5)
and J.R. Hildebrand of Indianapolis
(RLR/Andersen Racing No. 25) will try to rack up
as many points as possible in their season
opener this Saturday afternoon, March 29, at
Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla., as
well as at the doubleheader that is part of the
Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Saturday
and Sunday, April 5-6, on that Florida city's
street course.
RLR/Andersen Racing fielded two cars in the Indy
Pro Series last year from its base in Fairfield,
N.J., but moved to Palmetto, Fla., near St.
Petersburg, in November. The team headquarters
are now on the grounds of the 18-acre Andersen
RacePark, a facility that includes a 1-mile road
course test track.
Prendeville, 26, who moved from New Jersey to
Las Vegas over the Christmas holiday, is
beginning his second season of Indy Pro Series
action, as is the team. Prendeville finished
fifth in his first Indy Pro Series race ever at
Homestead last year, and he gave RLR/Andersen
Racing its first podium finish in the series in
the next-to-last race of the 2007 season.
Hildebrand, 20, a native of Sausalito, Calif.,
will be going for the Lucas Oil Rookie of the
Year award in 2008. Saturday's race at Homestead
will be his first oval-track race ever, although
he's tested an Indy Pro Series car on the ovals
at Homestead and Nashville previously. He's
anxious to get back to work with RLR/Andersen
Racing's Dominic and Nicholas Cape, with whom he
won 12 of 14 Formula 2000 races in 2006 enroute
to that championship.
RLR/Andersen Racing is sponsored by Allied
Building Products Corp.
Prendeville also represents the Best Friends
Animal Society (see
racinglapsforbestfriends.com), while
Hildebrand's sponsors include Mockett.com and
Formotion Products.
Homestead's Indy Pro Series race, the Miami 100,
will go for a distance of 67 laps (100 miles)
around the 1.5-mile oval at 12:30 p.m. this
Saturday afternoon. There are two one-hour
practice sessions prior to that, at 1:30 p.m.
and 5:15 p.m. on Friday, as well as qualifying
at 8:15 p.m. Friday night. The race will be
covered live on the Internet at indycar.com/pro,
and at 4 p.m. April 3 on ESPN2. All times are
Eastern.
The day after the Homestead race the
RLR/Andersen Racing set will try to be in front
of a TV at 3 p.m. to watch SPEED's coverage of
the recent Star Mazda season opener at Sebring
International Raceway in Sebring, Fla. Three of
Andersen Racing's five Star Mazda drivers
finished in the top five in that race, including
two (Charles Hall and Peter Dempsey) on the
podium.
The next day, Monday, March 31, Prendeville and
Hildebrand will be off to Sebring themselves,
exchanging Homestead's variable banking of 18 to
20 degrees in the turns for the short course at
Sebring for a one-day test. Then they're off to
St. Petersburg, where the team will try to
quickly arrive at the best set-up possible for
that city's 1.8-mile, 14-turn flat city-street
course.
There won't be much time to tweak set-ups at St.
Pete either, as again there are just two hours
of practice (9:25 a.m. and 4:45 p.m.) on Friday,
April 4 before qualifying at 10:05 a.m. Saturday
morning, April 5. The first 40-lap Indy Pro
Series race at St. Petersburg gets the green
flag at 4:45 p.m. Saturday, April 5. The next
day there is a 10-minute warm-up at 8:05 a.m.
followed by the second half of the doubleheader
at 10:45 a.m. that Sunday morning. Both of the
St. Petersburg Indy Pro Series races will be
carried live on indycar.com/pro and also shown
on ESPN2 at 2 p.m. April 10.
Andersen Racing is the development team of Rahal
Letterman Racing. Its website is at
andersenracingteam.com.
Pre-race quotes follow:
Andrew Prendeville: "We've
really worked hard in the off-season from a team
perspective, a car perspective and a Racing Laps
for Best Friends perspective. I think as a whole
we're ready to go. I'm excited to get back in
the race car and go racing again.
"The most challenging thing about Homestead will
be racing in a pack. There are a lot of new guys
in the series, and there will be a lot of
anxiety throughout the field. You're banking on
other people's rational decisions, and sometimes
that doesn't work out too well.
"For St. Pete, for the first time in Andersen
Racing's history we'll have a home race, as
we're now based in Palmetto. It's a
doubleheader, so it's an important event for the
championship.
"I'm excited to get back to that track. It's a
fantastic venue and a fun track to drive. I'll
be going there for the second time, so hopefully
we'll be able to perform better there."
John Andersen (team co-owner and Indy
Pro Series team manager): "I'm looking
forward to Homestead, St. Pete and the whole
season. I feel we have two very qualified,
talented drivers. I feel very comfortable with
the set-up we arrived at in testing. Andrew is
comfortable with how the car will run. J.R. has
never raced at Homestead, but we have a lot more
knowledge going into this race than we had last
year, so we're optimistic."
About Allied Building Products Corp.:
Allied Building Products Corp., headquartered in
East Rutherford, N.J., is one of the largest
roofing and siding distributors in the United
States. Founded in 1950 with five employees and
two trucks, today it is a $1.8 billion building
material distribution company with over 3,500
employees, more than 200 branches in 30 states,
well over one million square feet of office and
warehouse space, and an inventory of
approximately 85,000 products, from residential
roofing and siding to doors, windows,
waterproofing, manufactured stone, interior
products and commercial roofing systems. For
more information see
alliedbuilding.com.
About Andersen Racing:
Andersen Racing strives to provide the best and
most comprehensive training possible for future
open-wheel superstars while giving its marketing
partners media exposure and hospitality
opportunities at some of the most prestigious
events in North America. It provides a unique,
three-step program utilizing multiple entries in
three different series: the F2000 Championship
(webcast), Star Mazda (televised on SPEED) and
the Indy Pro Series (televised on ESPN2). In
2008 it will field multiple entries in 42 races
in 19 states and provinces at some of the best
facilities on the continent, including the famed
Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Andersen Racing's principals, brother Dan and
John Andersen, have extensive experience in
series administration as well as team
management. They've worked with many of today's
top open-wheel stars, including several Indy 500
winners.
Andersen Racing is sponsored by Allied Building
Products Corp. It is the official development
team of Rahal Letterman Racing, which competes
in the IndyCar Series and the American Le Mans
Series. In addition, its F2000 team is also the
official factory team of Van Diemen. The team is
headquartered at Andersen RacePark, an 18-acre
facility in Palmetto, Fla. that includes a
1-mile test track. For more information see
andersenracingteam.com and
andersenracepark.com. |
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