Bryan Herta Autosport has teamed up with the Skip Barber Racing School to promote the Skip Barber National series and help identify and develop talented young racing drivers.
Throughout the upcoming Firestone Indy Lights season, Bryan Herta Autosport, which fields a Firestone Indy Lights team and this year will step up to the IZOD IndyCar Series for the first time with an entry in the Indianapolis 500, will host drivers from the BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda, giving them inside access to the team and its drivers at Indy Lights race events. At the end of the season, the Skip Barber National Champion will earn a test in one of the team's Indy Lights cars at a date and location to be announced.
“Bryan Herta is a prime example of a driver who started in the Skip Barber Racing School system and worked his way up to the highest levels of motorsport. Now that he is a team owner, he hasn't forgotten his roots as an up-and-coming driver,” noted Michael Culver, Chairman and CEO for Skip Barber Racing School.
Todd Snyder, VP of Competition at Skip Barber Racing School, added “We want to thank Bryan and Steve [Newey, the team's co-owner] for enabling our drivers to be embedded into their team and thus accelerate their learning and maturation.”
“Having started the car chapter of my racing career with Skip Barber Racing School in 1989, I know the program works; it helped launch me,” said Herta. “Steve Newey, me and the rest of the race team are excited to assist IndyCar's future drivers and give them a taste of racing on this level.”
The 2010 BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda begins at Homestead-Miami Speedway the weekend of March 6-7, where it will support the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. The Firestone Indy Lights season kicks off March 28 at St. Petersburg with the IZOD Indycar Series.