HER has Lloyd back in pink, raising cancer awareness

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing has secured the backing of the HER Energy drink brand as sponsor of the #40202 entry to be driven by Alex Lloyd in next weekend's IndyCar finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

HER backed former Indy Lights champion Lloyd in a joint Chip Ganassi/Sam Schmidt entry at Indianapolis, before the Briton switched camps to run with NHLR at Homestead. An eleventh-place, first day, qualifying effort was nullified by an early race problem, but the distinctive pink machine went the distance to come home 13th.

"HER is ecstatic to work with 'Pink' Lloyd again," CEO Brett Jacobson claimed, "He's a great sport wearing pink, and we had a great experience in May. I couldn't have been more excited to find another opportunity to work with him.

"Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing has such an impressive legacy, and my experience working with all of them the past few weeks only confirms the great things I've heard - their engineers and crew are remarkable. We also want to thank the IRL for allowing us to enter the 40202 number- and their getting behind such an amazing cause and call to action."

The entry listing signifies the 'text to donate' number for cancer research and awareness, where fans can donate $5 to charity simply by texting the word 'Stand' to 40202.

"It's a real pleasure to have HER Energy as our sponsor for my first race with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, a team that I have followed since my fellow countryman Nigel Mansell drove for them," Lloyd said, "It's an exciting brand and I am very happy to continue representing them.

"I'm also honoured to participate in such a worthwhile cause and to help the fight against cancer. I will be dusting off the pink helmet and getting another pink firesuit so I guess 'Pink' Lloyd is back."

Lloyd completed a successful one-day test at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway oval yesterday in preparation for the Firestone Indy 300, racking up over 200 trouble-free miles in the distinctive Dallara-Honda, with a best lap average of 211.4mph.

"Today was a good day; we accomplished all of the miles we wanted to run and got plenty of laps in," the 24-year old reported, "The main point of the day was to get myself comfortable in the car and get a good working relationship going with the team.

"The test went well and I think we all work well together. I think we had a good baseline for the car at the end of the day - we certainly proved that and the speed was pretty good. We have a good starting point for the race, so we're all feeling pretty confident going forward. I can't wait to get back for the race."