Sebring testing

[luke]

Times from day 1 of Sebring open test (pos., driver name, team, lap time, mph):

1- Franck Montagny, Forsythe Pettit Racing, 50.788 seconds, 118.304 mph
2- Oriol Servia, PKV Racing, 50.856 seconds, 118.145 mph
3- Justin Wilson, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 50.927 seconds, 117.981 mph
4- Franck Perera, Conquest Racing, 50.986 seconds, 117.844 mph
5- Alex Figge, Pacific Coast Motorsports, 51.097 seconds, 117.588 mph
6- Graham Rahal, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 51.104 seconds, 117.572
7- Alex Tagliani, PKV Racing, 51.228 seconds, 117.287 mph
8- Bruno Junqueira, Dale Coyne Racing, 51.228 seconds, 117.287 mph
9- Mario Moraes, Dale Coyne Racing, 51.346 seconds, 117.018 mph
10- Paul Tracy, Forsythe Pettit Racing, 51.347 seconds, 117.016 mph
11- David Martinez, Pacific Coast Motorsports, 51.950 seconds, 115.657 mph
12- Ernesto Viso, Minardi Team USA, 51.973 seconds, 115.606 mph
13- Enrique Bernoldi, Rocketsports Racing, 52.019 seconds, 115.504 mph
14- Simon Pagenaud, Conquest Racing, 52.118 seconds, 115.285 mph

Interesting..

[D.R.T.]

Impressive which is what struck me.

Montagny, Figge and Perrera especially.

[madman16]

Day 2 Results

1-Franck Montagny, #7 Forsythe/Pettit, 50.209 seconds, 119.668 mph, 183 laps
2-Justin Wilson, #1 Newman/Haas/Lanigan, 50.448 seconds, 119.101 mph, 200 laps
3-Graham Rahal, #2 Newman/Haas/Lanigan, 50.474 seconds, 119.040 mph, 179 laps
4-Franck Perera, #24 Conquest, 50.495 seconds, 118.990 mph, 150 laps
5-Oriol Servia, #22 PKV, 50.505 seconds, 118.966 mph, 212 laps
6-Alex Taglianii, #21 PKV, 50.594 seconds, 118.757 mph, 214 laps
7-Alex Figge, #29 Pacific Coast, 50.707 seconds, 118.493 mph, 176 laps
8-Simon Pagenaud, #34 Conquest, 50.792 seconds, 118.294 mph, 139 laps
9-Paul Tracy, #3 Forsythe/Pettit, 50.892 seconds, 118.062 mph, 127 laps
10-Bruno Junqueira, #19 Dale Coyne, 51.122 seconds, 117.531 mph, 171 laps
11-Ernesto Viso, #4 Minardi, 51.295 seconds, 117.134 mph, 143 laps
12-Enrique Bernoldi, #8 Rocketsports, 51.313 seconds, 117.093 mph, 197 laps
13-Mario Moraes, #11 Dale Coyne, 51.346 seconds, 117.018 mph, 180 laps
14-David Martinez, #28 Pacific Coast, 51.432 seconds, 116.822 mph, 203 laps

I think Franck might be just testing himself right into a seat there at Forsythe

[schitarella]

no will power? any idea what he's up to this year is he racing in CC?

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by schitarella

no will power? any idea what he's up to this year is he racing in CC?

He is certainly expected to be in CC.

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/42899/

As for Team Australia, its absence remains something of a mystery. As late as last weekend team owner Derrick Walker talked confidently of preparing two cars to run at Sebring, although he admitted to having no solid plans for Power’s teammate in the wake of Pagenaud’s move to Conquest Racing. Walker was unavailable for comment today.

[madman16]

He keeps being mentioned as a title threat so i imagine he will be there

[mountainstar]

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/42908/

TEAM AUSTRALIA STILL MIA

Once again there was no sign of Team Australia at Sebring, leaving the car count at 14 on the day. Will Power, who won a pair of races last year and who is widely regarded as one of the favorites for the ‘08 title sounded nonplussed when we tracked him down by cell phone.

“We’re sorting a few things out,” he said, “and we’ll be at the next test for sure. We had the car on the shaker rig early this week and everything is going forward. It’s all good.”

Team co-owner Derrick Walker was similarly upbeat.

“I’ve got the same driver, the same car and the same crew we had last year, he said, tongue firmly in cheek. “Why do we need to go to Sebring and run up the mileage for two and half days? It’s not like we have a rookie driver to test. It’s not like we have a bunch of mechanics who’ve never worked on the Panoz before. It’s not like we’ve hired a whole bunch of engineers from other teams and we’ve got to sort through all their setups to see what works.”

Some cynics suggested that Walker was trying to send a message to Champ Car owners Gerald Forsythe, Paul Gentilozzi, Kevin Kalkhoven and Dan Pettit by not showing up; others suggested the message was not directed at Champ Car’s owners but at Walker’s partner in Team Australia, Craig Gore . . .

[Hazard]

We know that Minardi's quick, so Viso's times aren't impressing.

Montagny easily the top show there, especially testing against Tracy for the team he's been with for 5 years. That said, does he need to bring money for the drive?

Of course, Wilson faster than Rahal at Newman-Haas-Lanigan already - though that's less of a surprise.

Didn't know Pagenaud had lost his Walker seat - I thought he had a very good rookie season.

[icemachine]

Walker's comments seem curious, especially if his team will be there for the Atlantics only two weeks after their test at Firebird

[icemachine]

Final combined test times from Sebring testing
Pos., driver name, team, lap time, mph
(via Speedtv.com, CCWS site seems to be down.)

1. Franck Perera, #24 Conquest Racing, 49.806 seconds, 120.636 mph
2. Graham Rahal, #2 N/H/L Racing, 49.950 seconds, 120.288 mph
3. Alex Tagliani, #21 PKV Racing, 50.173 seconds, 119.754 mph
4. Oriol Servia, #22 PKV Racing, 50.178 seconds, 119.742 mph
5. Justin Wilson, #1 N/H/L Racing, 50.207 seconds, 119.673 mph
6. Franck Montagny, #7 Forsythe/Pettit Racing, 50.209 seconds, 119.668 mph
7. Bruno Junqueira, #19 Dale Coyne Racing, 50.507 seconds, 118.962 mph
8. Alex Figge, #29 Pacific Coast Motorsports, 50.521 seconds, 118.929 mph
9. Simon Pagenaud, #34 Conquest Racing, 50.702 seconds, 118.504 mph
10. Enrique Bernoldi, #8 Rocketsports Racing, 50.714 seconds, 118.476 mph
11. Paul Tracy, #3 Forsythe/Pettit Racing, 50.732 seconds, 118.434 mph
12. David Martinez, #28 PCM, 50.736 seconds, 118.425 mph
13. Ernesto Viso, #4 Minardi Team USA, 50.800 seconds, 118.276 mph
14. Mario Moraes, #11 Dale Coyne Racing, 50.930 seconds, 117.974 mph