CFH Racing announced on Tuesday, April 7 that JR Hildebrand will drive the No. 6 Preferred Freezer Services CFH Racing Chevrolet for the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 9 and the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 24.
The 27-year-old will be making his fifth Indianapolis 500 start, and his first start in the Augie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The 2009 Indy Lights Champion was named the 2011 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year after finsihing second. In four races at IMS, he has two top-10 starts and two top-10 finishes.
“We are definitely looking forward to having Preferred Freezer Services back on the car,” Hildebrand said. “We had a lot of fun with them in 2014 and we will be rolling the polar bear back out into the garage area this year! Even though we were a one-off entry last year, we were very fast and had a really easy month. Preferred Freezer Services was a big part of that, they are a great group to work with and it’s going to make this year that much more exciting.”
The California native becomes the third driver in CFH Racing’s line-up for the Indianapolis 500, joining Josef Newgarden and Ed Carpenter.
“It was really great working with Ed last year at the 500 and I did a little bit of testing in the off-season with Josef, we got along really well,” Hildebrand said. “I expect the relationship that the three of us have to be potent and for us to have great communication. That’s such a huge piece, particularly at the 500, where there is so much practice, qualifying is so intense and we’ll have the new aero kits. You need every last ounce of speed you can get out of the cars for both qualifying and race day and we can all work together to reach that goal.”
Last year, all three drivers qualified in the top nine, with Carpenter winning the pole award for the second straight season.
While Hildebrand has experience on the oval, this year marks his first start on the 2.4 mile, 14-turn road course.
“To have the Grand Prix added onto the 500 program is great,” Hildebrand continued. “Having a race under our belts going into the 500 is a huge difference from a one-off scenario. It can be tough sometimes when you have guys who haven’t done pit stops as a group during a race and you don’t have that chemistry yet. It will be great for my team of guys to have a warm-up heading into the oval race and great for me to get back in a car on a road course.”
Preferred Freezer Services “offers the most modern, state-of-the-art, full service temperature-controlled warehouses in the United States”. The company, based out of New Jersey, previously partnered with ECR to field a car for Hildebrand in last year’s Indianapolis 500.
“Preferred Freezer Systems is leading the way in their industry and we hope to set the pace for the Month of May,” Carpenter said. “JR is a driver that we want to work with and it’s great to be able to team up with both JR and Preferred Freezer Services again for the Indy 500 and now the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.”
“We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to work with CFH Racing during the Month of May,” Trut Edwards, President of Central Security & Communications, added. “Ed has been a good friend for over 15 years and delivers great value in our partnership. Last year was fantastic; we feel that we can build on it with two races at IMS and JR behind the wheel. It is overwhelming to realize we are partnering with three American drivers on Memorial Day for the greatest race in the world.”
