MEDICAL UPDATE ON ED CARPENTER RACING DRIVER JR HILDEBRAND

LONG BEACH, Calif. (Sunday, April 9, 2017) – Ed Carpenter Racing driver JR Hildebrand suffered a broken bone in his left hand during an incident at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Hildebrand was entering the first turn on Lap 85 when his No. 21 Preferred Freezer Services Chevrolet made contact with the No. 7 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda driven by Mikhail Aleshin.

According to INDYCAR medical director Dr. Geoffrey Billows, Hildebrand will be re-evaluated upon his return to Indianapolis this week and has not been cleared to return to Verizon IndyCar Series competition.

“At the end of the race, we all were bunched back up because of that last yellow,” Hildebrand explained. “I was on reds and had a little bit for at least the handful of cars in front of us. On the last lap, I was making a move on Mikhail Aleshin and I could tell he was struggling. I was out of push-to-pass so I was trying to make a proper, full-out pass down he front straightaway. He had been starting to move over, not a major blocking maneuver but enough to assert his line. He hit the brake a lot earlier than I was expecting and I ended up running into the back of him. In doing so, it ripped the steering wheel from my hand and I ended up tweaking it. At the end of the day, to come home with an 11th place finish isn’t terrible. It is a bummer though as we were certainly on our way to finishing in the Top 10 and now we are in a bit of a jam going forward. Hopefully I can get back to it here before the next race.”

About Ed Carpenter Racing
Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR) first entered the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2012. The team is led by IndyCar’s only owner/driver, Ed Carpenter, winner of back-to-back pole positions for the Indianapolis 500 in 2013 and 2014. ECR amassed seven victories and over 20 top five finishes in its first five years. In 2017, Carpenter will compete in all oval events in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet while Spencer Pigot will take over at road and street course races. JR Hildebrand will compete for the Verizon IndyCar Series championship as he races the No. 21 Chevrolet throughout the entire season. More information on Ed Carpenter Racing may be found at www.edcarpenterracing.com.