IRLblog.com

Stefan Wilson, younger brother of the IRL’s Justin Wilson has signed with FIRST Motorsports and will be racing in the Indy Lights Series this year. 

“We are very proud that Stefan has chosen to join our team and we are looking forward to a very successful season this year,” said team owner, Jon Lewis. “Stefan’s program currently will include all of the road course events as we work together to increase the funding to enable him to drive the entire schedule.” (Indycar.com)

Hopefully for Stefan the funds will be available. If he is planning on being successful in the Indy Lights League he needs to do well on ovals as well as on street courses. It’s necessary  because it will make him a well rounded driver and will better his chances to be moved up to the IRL.

Stefan has three wins last year in the British Formula 3 Championship. Not to mention four wins in the 2007 season as well. Stefan’s history has shown that he can win on big stages. Brendon’s reporting down in Miami has proven that a lot of young talent is creeping into the Indy Lights/IRL scene. If Stefan is able to contend like his brother has we might see him on IRL circuit sooner rather than later.

It’s not what you think.  Davey Hamilton will join the ranks in the Firestone Indy Lights in 2009 not as a driver, but as an owner.  He has teamed up with Doc Wagner to run a 2 car Firestone Indy Lights effort for the whole 2009 season with Logan Gomez and Brendan Wagner behind the wheel.  This news comes just a few days after Bryan Herta announced that he is going to start a Firestone Indy Lights team as well.  It would seem that the IndyCar grid continues to shrink while the Firestone Indy Lights one grows.  It should be interesting to see how the 2009 season plays out.

Well, it would seem that my speculations on this recent posting were correct.  Firestone held a private test for the Firestone Indy lights on the 2.034 mile 11 turn road course at Palm Beach International Raceway on January 26th and 27th.  Among the teams that tested were Genoa Lights with Richard Phillipe, Sam Schmidt Motorsports with Charlie Kimball and Ana Beatriz, and Panther Racing with Pippa Mann and Martin Plowman.  The teams were turning in times around the 1 minute 7 second range on the new road course which was just recently completed in the later half of 2008.  Perhaps we will see the IndyCar Series here for testing sometime in the not so distant future.

These teams along with AFS/Andretti Green Racing drivers J.L. Hildebrand and Sebastian Saavedra will resume testing at Homestead Miami Speedway On January 28th and 29th.

Andersen Racing’s, Firestone Indy Lights team is packing up and moving shop. They are off to Hilliard Ohio where they will set up shop in Rahal Letterman Racing’s facility. Rahal Letterman Racing has been working with Andersen Racing in the Firestone Indy Lights effort. This is clearly a strong step in the right direction for a team that wants to get more out of it’s FIL program. This team is clearly dedicated to open wheel racing fielding cars in the Firestone Indy Lights, Star Mazda Series, and F2000 Series. Anderson Racing hopes this big move will boost their effort and turn this team into a race winning team to a championship winning team.