Five Star JR - Could Hildebrand be the real deal?

If it was purely based on his popularity amongst the players of this Fantasy League, JR Hildebrand would already be Firestone Indy Lights Champion for 2009. That would, of course, be a terrific position to be in as he could start his discussions for 2010 by May 1st of 2009 and he may even be able to land a drive for the 500 this season. Townsend Bell managed a similar feat in slightly less timely fashion in 2001 when he parlayed a triumphant Indy Lights campaign into a number of late season races for Pat Patrick in CART.

Sadly for the 21 year old from Sausalito, popularity amongst a disparate group of global fantasy racing fans doesn't pay the mortgage. It hasn't helped him in the standings either as his two pole positions and chart topping speed at every round has only netted one win and fourth place in the current standings. Outright pace may not be the key to winning the Firestone Indy Lights title in 2009. Consistency and that inate ability to avoid trouble will most likley be the magic combination this season. Just ask Jonathan Summerton who tops the standings without having seen victory lane this year. In terms of this Fantasy League, it means having to try and pick a single driver to give you maximum points each week is almost impossible.

Hildebrand hit the ground running at Brands Hatch last weekend.

One of the flaws of the Firestone Indy Lights Series, in some respects, is the wide open and varied nature of the competition. The almost chaotic and unbalanced qualifying system on street courses and the clear disparity between some of the teams and drivers abilities when moving from those street courses to ovals, are two reasons why we have seen no clear superstar rising from the pack at this early stage. In 2008, Dillon Battistini won four races on ovals, more than any other driver, but could only manage 6th in the overall standings. The eventual series champion, Raphael Matos never found victory lane by turning left but took the top step of the podium three times on road courses.

Pure road racing talent is something Matos has in abundance, a fact underlined by the contents of his trophy cabinet which contains the 2007 Atlantic Series Cup alongside his 2008 FILS silverware. That ability clearly attracted Luczo Dragon Racing who signed him for 2009. If the IndyCar pit lane was not aware of Hildebrand's similar prowess it will have been forced to sit up take notice by his performances last weekend in Britain. Racing at Brands Hatch in A1GP for the Andretti Green run Team USA, the Californian put in the outfit's most competitive performance of the year. It would be unfair not to acknowledge the work that Marco Andretti and his engineers have done with the team to date and this was something that Hidlebrand was very quick to point out. "Marco and the whole team have done a great job over the last few races getting the setup pretty close to where it needs to be. I get the pleasure of being able to capitalize on that a little bit", Hildebrand remarked after qualifying and finishing fourth in Sunday's opening sprint race. This is absolutely true but it also plays down the difficulty that any new driver faces coming into this series with limits on tyre useage, no testing opportunities and extremely limited track time on race weekends.

Marco Andretti has seen some of his happiest moments away from the IndyCar Series

I talked about Marco's struggles, and his enigmatic career to date, in an earlier blog entry. Hildebrand's run to third place in the opening Sprint race does put some of those prior performances by Andretti and the whole AGR team in some perspective. It also raises the question of who will be in the seat when the A1 GP Series reconvenes on the Gold Coast in October. By then, the IndyCar and Indy Lights seasons will have drawn to a close and both AGR contracted drivers may see success in A1GP as key to their future careers. Michael Andretti may have the unenviable task of chosing between the driver who may need more seat time to hone his race craft and the Indy Lights Champion on an upward career curve ready to win races for team and country.


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