Mundelein, IL – After posting the fastest time in Sunday’s final session at the Chris Griffis Memorial test, the Newman Wachs Racing team came away from Indianapolis with a strong sense of accomplishment. The newly formed NWR team had very little time to get ready for the two-day test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where all three series in the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system participated, and drivers from all over the world came to showcase their talent.
Team Manager, Brian Halahan was elated with the team’s success at the end of the weekend. “We’re so glad to be finally back at it, after being away from racing for six years. It’s only been three months since we put the team together, and I couldn’t be more proud of our guys. Alan (O’Leary) our engineer, Dan (Toborg) and Billy (Simmons) did a great job
to get us here.
“We tested two young drivers, Brendon Leitch of New Zealand, and Andre Castro out of New York City”, Halahan added. “Both kids were great to work with, and both were at the top of the timesheets on each day, ending the last session with fastest time. This shows the strength of our team and gives us great momentum for testing and evaluating drivers. Over the next few weeks, we will be hard at work developing the car and we hope to announce our team drivers very soon.”
Talented 17-year old American driver, Andre Castro couldn’t say enough about NWR and the new USF2000 car. ”This past weekend at Indianapolis was a dream come true for me. Driving the new USF2000 Tatuus chassis for the first time, and ending up on top of the leaderboard, at the end of my first day was an amazing experience. I can’t thank our engineer Alan O’Leary and team manager Brian Halahan enough for making everything happen. The car was quick right out of the gate on Saturday, and by the time I jumped in on Sunday, I could push as hard as I wanted and show what the car was capable of. Once again, I have to thank the whole team so much for making me feel at home and for giving me a quick car."
Brendon Leitch added, “I really enjoyed testing with Newman Wachs Racing. They’re a very knowledgeable team with a lot of experience in open-wheelers.”
“I think both drivers did a great job," said Team engineer, Alan O’Leary. "Brendon’s experience with the Tatuus chassis he drove in New Zealand helped get us to a good base line set-up quite quickly, and all though he was restricted to only one run on new tires, he did a very good job. For sure, Andre benefited from the development we had done on Saturday, and was instantly quick. Given his lack of experience, we were very impressed with his feedback and impressive pace.”
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About the Newman Wachs Racing Team:
Newman Wachs Racing (NWR) is a racing team owned by Eddie Wachs and, until his death, American actor and racer himself, PaulNewman. NWR is based outside of Chicago, in Mundelein, Illinois. Newman and Wachs shared the same passion for racing and met when they both competed in the Can-Am Series in the mid-1970’s. They raced together for 15 years in Trans-Am, Can-Am, and many other SCCA professional venues. Over the years, they talked about joining forces to create a driver-development race team. They put together a Champ Car Atlantic team for the 2006 season to meet their objectives. In 2009, John Edwards won the Championship for NWR, beating teammate Jonathan Summerton in a tiebreaker.