INFINEON PREVIEW - HILLIARD, Ohio - Ryan Hunter-Reay (#17 Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone) will be making his first start at Infineon Raceway, but carries the confidence gained from a strong IndyCar road-course debut. The Floridian made his first series appearance with RLR at Mid-Ohio and immediately set season-highs for the team with a 10th-place starting spot and a seventh-place result.
 

INFINEON PREVIEW - HILLIARD, Ohio - Ryan Hunter-Reay (#17 Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone) will be making his first start at Infineon Raceway, but carries the confidence gained from a strong IndyCar road-course debut. The Floridian made his first series appearance with RLR at Mid-Ohio and immediately set season-highs for the team with a 10th-place starting spot and a seventh-place result.

“Sonoma is a new challenge for me having not raced there in the past,” said Hunter-Reay. “Last week we had a productive one-day test where we were second-quick against some very competitive cars, so I am optimistic heading into the race weekend.  We have been working so hard on closing the gap to Penske, Ganassi and AGR.  Our first race together at Mid-Ohio was a solid weekend all around, so there's no reason why we can't turn it up a notch this weekend.  We will need to make the most of every session leading up to Sunday where we need to run a clean, mistake-free race. 

Hunter-Reay moved closer to the Bombardier Learjet Rookie-of-the-Year Award in Michigan, cutting the lead in the rookie points to 12 with three races to go. 

The 14th race on the 2007 IndyCar schedule will take place Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time and can be seen live on ESPN. The Indy Cars will run a three-day show this weekend  with Friday practice leading into Saturday’s run for the AAMCO Transmissions Pole Award, which takes place at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
 
Rahal Letterman Racing Infineon Notes:
 
This will be mark the third time that the Indy Cars have visited Infineon. The 2.26-mile permanent road course began hosting the series in 2005 and has yet to have a repeat racewinner or polesitter. The Indy Cars use the ‘sportscar’ configuration of the Sonoma racetrack, which also hosts NASCAR on a different version of the track. Buddy Rice scored the best finish ever for a Rahal Letterman Racing Indy Car on a road course when he took second-place honors at Infineon in 2005.
 
Ryan Hunter-Reay made his IndyCar Series debut at Mid-Ohio, scoring a seventh-place finish to match a RLR record for the best result by a driver making his debut with the team. He finished sixth at Michigan and is the first IndyCar driver to earn finishes of seventh or better in his first two starts since Felipe Giaffone in 2001. He is the first to score top-10 finishes in his first two IndyCar starts since fellow former Champ Car star Patrick Carpentier in 2005. He has never competed at Infineon Raceway in his open-wheel career, although he ran second in last week’s IndyCar Series test session at Infineon with a quick lap of 1:18.15. He is currently just 12 points behind Milka Duno in the Bombardier Learjet Rookie-of-the-Year chase despite having half as many starts as the current points leader.
 
Team Facts - RLR has competed in both of the IndyCar Series events to take place at Infineon since the facility began hosting the series two seasons ago. Rahal Letterman Racing has won 19 races and 30 pole positions since its inception in 1992 as Rahal Hogan Racing. Of Rahal Letterman Racing’s 19 wins, five have come on a permanent road course, the last of those being Michel Jourdain Jr.’s 2003 Champ Car victory at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Of Rahal Letterman Racing’s 30 pole positions, nine have come on permanent road courses, the most recent being Danica Patrick’s 2004 pole at Portland, which came in Toyota Atlantic competition. In 77 IndyCar Series races RLR has captured 10 pole positions, won three times, collected 16 podium results (top-three) and 35 top-five finishes while leading 689 laps.