The 2013 Dodge Viper GTS-R, set to return to competition later this year in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), hit the track for the first time.
Marc Goossens put it through its paces at the Carolina Motorsports Park of Kershaw, in South Carolina. Everybody from within the team was very pleased with the way things went.
"Obviously it was a great feeling," Goossens said. "We had a lot of expectations there since we were all so motivated to go ahead and drive it; it did what we expected. It responded in a very positive way; it was a pretty good first test that we had there."
The fact the team had a trouble-free shakedown day is a feat in itself; many things can go wrong as the car runs for the first time, but nothing did.
"If you would have seen that car three days earlier there's no way you'd have believed that thing was going to roll off a trailer in three days to drive around the track," laughed Gary Johnson, Road Racing manager at SRT Motorsports.
Now, they all look into improving the car for its upcoming race debut.
"Over the next couple of months, we'll be at several different racetracks, several different environments to really improve the car's abilities as well as find any weaknesses or issues that could arise that could eventually cost us a poor race result or a poor race finish," further explained Johnson.
Marc Goossens put it through its paces at the Carolina Motorsports Park of Kershaw, in South Carolina. Everybody from within the team was very pleased with the way things went.
"Obviously it was a great feeling," Goossens said. "We had a lot of expectations there since we were all so motivated to go ahead and drive it; it did what we expected. It responded in a very positive way; it was a pretty good first test that we had there."
The fact the team had a trouble-free shakedown day is a feat in itself; many things can go wrong as the car runs for the first time, but nothing did.
"If you would have seen that car three days earlier there's no way you'd have believed that thing was going to roll off a trailer in three days to drive around the track," laughed Gary Johnson, Road Racing manager at SRT Motorsports.
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| Dodge Viper GTS-R. (Photo: ALMS) |
Now, they all look into improving the car for its upcoming race debut.
"Over the next couple of months, we'll be at several different racetracks, several different environments to really improve the car's abilities as well as find any weaknesses or issues that could arise that could eventually cost us a poor race result or a poor race finish," further explained Johnson.