Ashley Freberg Leads Skip Barber Southern Points After Six Races

SEBRING, Jan. 28, 2010: Talented, young female racer Ashley Freiberg is prepared for an exciting new racing campaign in 2010.

Freiberg, 18, hits the legendary pavement at Sebring International Raceway this Thursday and Friday (Jan. 28-29) as the top contenders in the highly-competitive BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Series powered by Mazda championship begin testing sessions.

The 14-race Barber National tour gets underway on March 5-7 at the Homestead Miami Speedway 2.21-mile road circuit as part of the Rolex Grand-Am Series weekend.

Freiberg has already made an impressive showing on the Homestead Miami Speedway course with a close runner-up finish last weekend in the Barber Southern Regional open-wheel event. The second place gives Freiberg the current regional point lead after the first six races in the 2009-2010 series.

“It felt good to get back on the track after the winter in the Midwest,” said Freiberg, the recent high school graduate from Homer Glen, Ill. “I needed to get the rust off a little in the early portion of the weekend. But I was able to race at the front of the field and lead the race before I got nipped for the win. It was a good way to return to competition. Now, I am ready for the Barber National test at Sebring.”

Freiberg finished sixth in the final BFGoodrich/Barber National Series point standings in 2009, her rookie season in car racing.

A multi-time karting national champion, Freiberg is expected to be one of the challengers for the 2010 Barber National Series title.

“At my age, I need all of the track time I can get,” said Freiberg. “So racing in the Southern Series is important as I prepare for the National Series this year. The Southern Series picks up a lot of National Series drivers and the racing is competitive, especially for a regional race. Since you can race in Florida in the winter, a number of drivers look to improve their skills in the Southern Series. This past weekend was good for me to get prepared for the National Series.”

As Freiberg prepares for her second season in auto racing, the personable teenager has secured a new sponsor for 2010.

Akzo Nobel N.V., the world’s leading decorative paints company as well as the leading salt specialist, will serve as an associate sponsor on Freiberg’s racing activities this year. The Dutch conglomerate, headquartered in Amsterdam, has activities in 80 countries and employs about 60.000 people in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Freiberg will attend a variety of Akzo Nobel activities as a spokesperson.

“I am extremely excited to have a sponsor such as Akzo Nobel,” Freiberg said. “Akzo Nobel is a world leader in the business arena, and it has a long history of successful and outstanding products dating back to the 17th century. I am honored to be associated with this great corporation.”

Freiberg was busy off the track this winter, too.

Ashley graduated from Lockport High School in December and began developing her 2010 racing program.

Freiberg was a popular participant in the Road Racing Drivers Club/FIA Young Drivers Symposium held in conjunction with Performance Racing Industry Show in Orlando, Fla., in December. She was one of many young drivers learning about the disciplines of performance, safety and fitness in the four-hour seminar.