Formula 3000 champ gets into CART swing
source: autosport.com
Newman/Haas rookie Sebastien Bourdais again demonstrated that he will be an
immediate threat in Champ Cars by pacing Tuesday's testing Spring Training
action at Sebring International Raceway. But the 23-year-old Frenchman again
blotted his copybook with a minor crash.
Running in the afternoon group, Bourdais' 50.953second (117.920mph) lap was
almost 0.5sec faster than his more experienced team-mate Bruno Junqueira managed
in the morning. Bourdais ran a chart-topping total of 78 laps Tuesday before he
slid off-course into a tyre barrier at Turn 5 with just one lap remaining in the
session.
"As the temperature went down, the grip level also went down," said
Bourdais. "I was trying to heat the tyres, but it never came. I pushed,
pushed, and pushed a bit more and finally I lost the rear on entry." Damage
to the Lola-Ford was light.
Junqueira wound up third fastest overall behind Team Rahal's Michel Jourdain
Jnr, who also ran in the afternoon. Jourdain managed a 51.407sec lap, while
Junqueira was a 10th behind at 51.507. Paul Tracy (51.784sec) was fourth,
besting Oriol Servia, Adrian Fernandez and Mario Dominguez.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was second fastest behind Bourdais of the eight rookies.
Hunter-Reay's lap of 52.474sec in Stefan Johansson's Reynard-Ford was good for
eleventh overall, two places and 0.2 sec behind his team leader, Jimmy Vasser.
CART's new spec Cosworth XFE engine continued to draw praise from drivers and
teams. Despite running around 4,000 fewer revs, the additional turbo boost of
the 2003 unit is producing similar lap times to last year's less regulated
engines.