Who: #26 XM Satellite Radio Acura drivers Bryan Herta, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan
What: Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Round 1 of the American Le Mans Series, LMP2 Class
Where: Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Fla.
When: Saturday, March 17, 2007
Bryan Herta on the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring:
“Sebring is one of the big ones. There is a lot of history involved in the event and those are the types of races that I really enjoy taking part in. There has been a tremendous amount of work put in by all the guys at the AGR shop as well as everyone at Acura in preparation for the debut of the XM Satellite Radio
Acura. I want to keep our expectations reasonable because this is a difficult race, especially for your first public outing. I hope, for the entire crew and myself, that we can achieve all of our goals on Saturday. “
Bryan Herta Facts
· This is Herta’s first ALMS start with Andretti Green Racing and AGR’s first race in the series.
· Herta had 10 starts in ALMS in 2002 with Panoz Motorsports that included five top-five finishes.
· He finished eighth overall and seventh in his class at the 2002 Sebring event.
· Herta has four career major open-wheel racing wins and 10 poles.
· His most recent win came at Michigan International Speedway in 2005 (IndyCar Series) when he sat on the pole and led 159 of 200 laps in securing the win.
Bryan Herta American Le Mans Series Statistics
Starts/Wins/Top5/Top10/FastQuals. /FastLaps
ALMS/ Career/ 10/ 0/ 5 /10/ 0 /0
Dario Franchitti on the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring:
“I’m excited to be driving the XM Satellite Radio car with Bryan (Herta) and Tony (Kanaan). They are both good friends of mine and they’re exceptional drivers so we should have a good time! We’ve been able to do a lot of testing and I think we have a good feel for the car. The Acura engine has been very strong and hopefully all the hard work the team has put in will pay off for us at Sebring. “
Dario Franchitti Facts
· This is Franchitti’s first ALMS race.
· He has 14 major open-wheel racing wins and 14 pole positions in 164 career open-wheel starts.
· His four IndyCar Series wins include: California Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway in 2005 and The Milwaukee Mile and Pikes Peak International Raceway in 2004.
· Since 1998, Franchitti has won more American major open-wheel races than all but four drivers.
Bryan Herta on the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring:
“Sebring is one of the big ones. There is a lot of history involved in the event and those are the types of races that I really enjoy taking part in. There has been a tremendous amount of work put in by all the guys at the AGR shop as well as everyone at Acura in preparation for the debut of the XM Satellite Radio Acura. I want to keep our expectations reasonable because this is a difficult race, especially for your first public outing. I hope, for the entire crew and myself, that we can achieve all of our goals on Saturday. “
Dario Franchitti on the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring:
“I’m excited to be driving the XM Satellite Radio car with Bryan (Herta) and Tony (Kanaan). They are both good friends of mine and they’re exceptional drivers so we should have a good time! We’ve been able to do a lot of testing and I think we have a good feel for the car. The Acura engine has been very strong and hopefully all the hard work the team has put in will pay off for us at Sebring. “
Tony Kanaan on the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring:
“I haven’t been able to get in the XM Satellite Radio car as much as Bryan (Herta) and Dario (Franchitti) but I think we had a pretty good test at Sebring last month. The car was fast and we all worked very well together. I think we’ll have a lot of fun and I expect us to have a good result in the race. “
Steve Newey, Race Engineer,
#26 XM Satellite Radio Acura, on the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring:
“I am looking forward to the Sebring race because the team has put in a great deal of hard work to prepare the XM Satellite Radio car for the event. You can always use a bit more time but I think the Andretti Green team has done an outstanding job of preparing for its first ALMS race. Bryan, Dario, and Tony have proven to be fairly quick in testing. I am sure this event will test their patience as it takes a different approach compared to the IndyCar Series events. The obvious challenge is to run the entire 12 hours without significant problems. I am confident that the team is capable of accomplishing that goal. ”
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