Indy Lights: Bryan Herta Autosport to make Indy Lights debut

The Indy Lights grid will be boosted by a new team in 2009, as Bryan Herta Autosport unveil plans to compete in the series with Daniel Herrington.
 

Bryan Herta Autosport will join the Indy Lights grid this season after the experienced Indy Car and American Le Mans Series racer teamed up with long time friend Steve Newey to form the brand new squad.
 

"Bryan and I talked about it and we thought that based on some of the contacts we had we could put a program together, and it just managed to snowball," said Newey, who was Herta's ALMS race engineer at Andretti Green Racing.
 

"The Firestone Indy Lights series is definitely the place to be if you're looking at an IndyCar career as a driver. From that standpoint, it's the place to be to develop new talent."

Bryan Herta Autosport will join the series’ regular teams at the group oval test at Homsetead/Miami and have also announced a technical partnership with IndyCar squad Vision Racing. Young American Daniel Herrington has been announced as the team’s first confirmed driver, with plans to run a second chassis currently being investigated.
 

"What really precipitated this was last year when I started doing some road course consulting work for Vision Racing," said Herta, a two-time IndyCar race winner. "I wasn't really sure how I'd really feel about that role. I surprised myself, I guess, in that I enjoyed being involved in a team in a competitive fashion outside the car.
 

"In about six weeks, we've gone from talking about starting an Indy Lights team to having signed a driver and getting ready to go testing. I'm very excited about the opportunity to take on a new challenge in open-wheel racing as a team owner, and am confident that we have assembled a formidable program."
 

Herrington has previous experience in the Indy Lights Series with seven top ten finishes from his 13 starts in the past two seasons. Previously he was NASA Spec E-30 series champion and has also raced in Formula Mazda and Formula BMW USA as well as winning the 2004 Skip Barber Regional championship.
 

The 22-year-old from North Carolina said: “I'm really excited about this opportunity. The past couple years I've been working towards a full season of racing in Indy Lights, but I either didn't have full sponsorship support or I didn't have the right opportunity come my way. This time I was lucky enough to have everything come together at the right time and now I have the perfect opportunity to learn and grow as a driver.
 

"It's fantastic to be able to work with someone with as much racing knowledge and experience as Bryan. He's a genuinely nice guy who has a lot to offer young American drivers like myself, and I intend on being a sponge and soaking it all up."