The Crittenden Automotive Library

Pair of Top-Eight Finishes for BHA at Edmonton

Topics: Bruno Andrade, Duarte Ferreira, Edmonton Twin 100's

Pair of Top-Eight Finishes for BHA at Edmonton

Andrew Herta
Bryan Herta Autosport
July 24, 2011

Bryan Herta Autosport drivers Bruno Andrade and Duarte Ferreira posted two top-eight drives this afternoon in the first of a pair of Firestone Indy Lights races at the Edmonton City Centre Airport track. Andrade, making only his second career start, finished sixth aboard the #29 William Rast entry while Ferreira claimed his fifth top-10 result of the season with an eighth-place drive in the #28 LS Sports/Sonangol/BHA car.

With rain canceling track activities yesterday, drivers made short work of learning the challenging 2.224-mile circuit with both a single 30-minute practice session and qualifying taking place this morning.

Andrade started ninth and benefited from an incident involving several cars at the start of the race to move into sixth position. A second caution involving the then second and third place cars of Peter Dempsey and Victor Carbone on Lap 28 gained an additional two positions and Andrade was able to maintain a strong pace and hold off several challenges from Gustavo Yacaman.

The original 40-lap event turned into a timed race and a charging Stefan Wilson managed to pass both Yacaman and Andrade at the end to claim fourth-place. Unfortunately, Andrade was issued a penalty for blocking on the last lap giving the fifth finishing position to Yacaman.

“The race was good,” said Andrade. “I was improving lap by lap. I was in fourth position towards the end of the race and I made a mistake with three or four laps to go and Stefan [Wilson] was able to make the move. I am really looking forward to the race tomorrow. This track is awesome.”

Ferreira, who claimed his best result of the season of fifth at Iowa Speedway, started 11th and was able to avoid the first lap melee and stay out of trouble to also gain positions in the attrition-filled race.

“The car was good, but the race was a lot of work with just a short time to learn the track,” said Ferreira. “I like the track and I am looking forward to improving in the race tomorrow.”

Tomorrow’s 40-lap race is scheduled for 1:15 pm ET with live coverage on VERSUS.

“The team did a great job after having two damaged cars from the race in Toronto,” said team co-owner Bryan Herta. “We are happy with Race 1 and having two cars in the top eight and, hopefully, to even better results tomorrow.”

Race Results:
1. Esteban Guerrieri – Sam Schmidt Motorsports
2. Josef Newgarden – Sam Schmidt Motorsports
3. Oliver Webb – Jensen MotorSport
6. Bruno Andrade – Bryan Herta Autosport
8. Duarte Ferreira – Bryan Herta Autosport