Nov 6, 2005
\nSnetterton, Norfolk, England (November 6, 2005) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00e2\u20ac\u201c J.R. Hildebrand experienced the highs and lows of auto racing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and the fickle English weather \u00e2\u20ac\u201c during today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s second and third rounds of the Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy.<\/p>\n
After finishing second on Saturday in the series opener, Hildebrand again drove a strong race to claim another runner-up finish this morning in his stunning, red-white-and-blue Team USA Scholarship car. A couple of hours later he found himself in the lead of the third race of the weekend…but then the heavens opened. After the race was red-flagged to allow the entire field to be switched onto wet weather tires, Hildebrand lost his advantage, then slithered off the treacherous track and ended his race stuck in the mud.<\/p>\n
But first, the good news: The gifted 17-year-old from Sausalito, Calif., edged past front-row starter Viktor Jensen to take second place at the first corner of this morning\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first race, only to be edged onto the grass by at the Esses later on around the lap. Hildebrand managed to regain the track in third, behind Andy Demetriou, then quickly chased down his rival before executing a brave maneuver around the outside of the very fast first corner, Riches.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I used the boost to get alongside him and just got on the brakes really late,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d related Hildebrand cooly.<\/p>\n
By that time Josh Weber, who also won the first race on Saturday, was way out in front, so Hildebrand brought his car home safely in second.<\/p>\n
The third race began with rain spots falling, and after falling back to fourth place on the opening lap, Hildebrand profited when both Weber and Jensen slid off the slippery track at Riches. Hildebrand next passed Demetriou for the lead and was already beginning to edge away when the rain began to fall heavily and the red flags were displayed.<\/p>\n
Immediately after the restart, Hildebrand began to struggle in the treacherous conditions. He lost a couple of positions before sliding off the road for good.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Overall, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m satisfied with the results. The competition is tough and I was right there on pace with the leaders,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was great to have the opportunity to lead but I think my inexperience probably got the better of me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Hildebrand will return to action next weekend at the historic Brands Hatch circuit for the final three races.<\/p>\n
The Team USA Scholarship, now in its 16th year, has received support this year from Mockett.com, a Torrance, Calif.-based producer and supplier of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fine Architectural Hardware For Your Fine Furniture,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Sparco USA, RACER magazine, Mi-Jack Conquest Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, Jim Russell Racing Schools and former Scholarship winners Jimmy Vasser (1990), Bryan Herta (1991), Tony Ave (1992), Memo Gidley (1995), Buddy Rice (1997), Paul Edwards (1998\/\u00e2\u20ac\u212299), Andy Lally (1999), Joey Hand (2000), A.J Allmendinger and Bryan Sellers (2001).<\/p>\n
Today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s results from Snetterton:<\/p>\n
Round 2: 1. Josh Weber (GB), 18 laps in 19m58.293s (105.55mph), 2. J.R. Hildebrand (USA), +10.860s; 3. Andy Demetriou (GB); 4. Tom Haines (GB); 5. Chris Hyman (ZA); 6. Joshua Southall (GB); 7. Russell Bolesworth; 8. Gino Ussi (I); 9. Paul Warren (GB); 10. David Joseph; etc. Fastest lap: Weber, 1m05.343s, 107.54mph.<\/p>\n
Round 3: 1. Demetriou, 10 laps in 13m26.366s (87.14mph); 2. John Embiricos (GR); 4. Mark Powell (GB); 5. Bill Knowles (GB); 6. Joseph; 7. Hyman; 8. Rob Lofting (GB); 9. Haines; 10. David Tait (GB); etc. DNF Hildebrand, accident. Fastest lap: Lofting, 1m16.591s (91.75mph).<\/p>\n
Championship points after three of six rounds: 1. Demetriou, 58; 2. Weber, 48; 3. Hyman, 41; 4. Hildebrand, 40; 5. Haines, 37; 6. Powell, 36; 7. Knowles, 31; 8. Southall, 29; 9, Joseph, 28; 10. Lofting and Viktor Jensen (ISL), 26, etc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nov 6, 2005 Snetterton, Norfolk, England (November 6, 2005) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00e2\u20ac\u201c J.R. Hildebrand experienced the highs and lows of auto racing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and the fickle English weather \u00e2\u20ac\u201c during today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s second and third rounds of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1440,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438\/revisions\/1440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}