After a few whirlwind weeks of preparation, Andreas Wirth finally got to enjoy the results of all the hard work as he made his Champ Car debut in beautiful Surfer's Paradise, Australia this past weekend. source: Gail Shankland While one of the most beautiful destinations on the Champ Car circuit, this seaside street course is also one of the most challenging that Champ Car drivers face each year, evidenced by the fact that there has never been a repeat winner in the sixteen years of competition on the Gold Coast. Some might agree that a debut in Surfer's Paradise would be nothing short of baptism by fire. However, despite the beauty and distractions that Surfer's Paradise serves up, Andreas Wirth took it all in stride, putting in a solid performance to be proud of. Preparing for his first day on track, Andreas knew that what lay ahead for the weekend would be one of the biggest steps in his racing career. Having little experience in the bigger, heavier, and more physically demanding Champ Cars, and no test laps on the tricky streets of Surfer's Paradise, Wirth's Friday results were remarkable and showed real promise. While he was able to continually better his own lap times through two practice sessions and qualifying, Wirth was disappointed when he brought the red flags out in provisional qualifying. The rookie explained, "It's a tough track to learn, and for sure a hard place to make your start without any testing. It's not as easy as I thought it would be. It was really unfortunate in qualifying when I ran out of fuel, which brought out the red flag and meant I lost my fastest time, but we'll do better tomorrow." While Wirth may have run out of fuel, bringing out the red flags in provisional qualifying, he can be proud that in all, his entire weekend was incident free. On such a tough track, Andreas' clean run is truly significant for the rookie, as several seasoned veterans met hard times as they made contact with walls and a small tire barrier which even put one championship contender out of competition for the weekend. With a new day, Saturday meant valuable opportunities for much needed seat time and practice. Sadly though, a red flag shortened Saturday's first practice by a third, and two incidents in qualifying hindered Wirth's best efforts. Commenting on his second day, Wirth remarked, "It was a tough day. I'm starting to feel more and more comfortable in the car, but I really need more seat time, so it's disappointing that our practice session was so short.
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