VOICES OF SEBRING: BRYAN HERTA

Bryan Herta (left) was part of Andretti Green Racing's LMP2 victory last year at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Bryan Herta could not have imagined a better return to the American Le Mans Series last season. It's not every season a new manufacturer and new team debuts with the success that Acura and Andretti Green Racing saw last year at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. After taking a historic LMP2 victory and overall runner-up finish last year, Herta is back with AGR, a new Acura chassis and new teammates Christian Fittipaldi and Marco Andretti.

Advancing Acura: "It's subtle refinements over the winter, just taking some of what we learned and where we thought there were some weaknesses that we could improve. There's some aerodynamic stuff, a lot of it's under the skin that people can't see. But certainly there's a lot of work that's gone on over the winter."

Greater expectations: "I think the biggest difference for us this year over last is that we didn't know what to expect; we knew it was a learning year. Winning Sebring was probably the best and worst thing that happened to us. It was a great first race, but I think it also raised everybody's expectations for the rest of the year. But now it's our sophomore year. We've got a season under our belts. We've had a chance to kind of develop and work with the Acura chassis. I definitely think our expectations are higher now. I'll be disappointed if we're not challenging for race wins regularly and the championship."

The 2008 American Le Mans Series season opens with the 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on Saturday, March 15. The race will start at 10 a.m. ET and will be broadcast live by SPEED, which will begin its coverage at 9:30 a.m. MotorsTV, Fox Latin America and Greenlight Television will provide international coverage as well. American Le Mans Radio and IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring will be available at americanlemans.com.