At least J.R. Hildebrand will be familiar with the surroundings at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Infineon Raceway.
The 2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion will compete in the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car at the natural-terrain road courses in August. Hildebrand, 22, of Sausalito, Calif., will make his IZOD IndyCar Series debut Aug. 6-8 in the Honda Indy 200 presented by Westfield Insurance, filling in for the injured Mike Conway. He'll return Aug. 20-22 at Infineon Raceway, which he describes as his "home track."
"I look at this as a learning experience to get used to everything, but I also look at it as an opportunity to show what I'm capable of doing, which is running up to the front," said Hildebrand, who will test July 29 at Mid-Ohio. "This team has shown solid pace all season long, and having Justin (Wilson) as a teammate I'll have a good benchmark and somebody to work from. I'm hoping to be able to use that momentum to work toward something full time next year."
Hildebrand recorded four victories and 11 top-five finishes overall on the way to last year's Firestone Indy Lights championship with AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing. He was fifth in the standings in '08 (one victory, 12 top-10 finishes) and made his series debut in 2007 in the doubleheader at Infineon Raceway. He also competed in the Atlantic Championship that season.
In 2006, Hildebrand won the Cooper Tires Formula Ford 2000 championship, posting a record 12 victories in 14 races.
"I have a lot of race wins at both tracks over the years," said Hildebrand, who is a two-time AARWBA All America first-team selection in the at-large category. "Every weekend is a little different, every car and team is a little different. But there are places I know where I can go and be comfortable with my surroundings and understand what's going on, and I think that will allow me to get used to all differences relative to what I've done there in the past (Firestone Indy Lights, Formula Ford, Formula Russell)."
"We are extremely excited about putting JR in our car at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma," team co-owner Dennis Reinbold said. "He adds another dimension to our program and we are happy to have him on board for those events. JR was a very talented Indy Lights driver, having won the championship, and we are converting him over to an IZOD IndyCar and we are excited to be the team that he makes his IZOD IndyCar Series debut with."
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