Source: Champ Car Atlantic Championship
For a driver who had never raced in North America until this season, Champ Car Atlantic Rookie Franck Perera racked up an impressive list of accomplishments. From the moment the Frenchman jumped into an Atlantic car during the last two days of preseason testing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, he set the fastest times in all four sessions, broke the unofficial track record and never slowed down all season. In a mere five months, Perera became the first Champ Car Atlantic driver in 11 years to finish all 12 races in the top five, and was also the first non-North American to win the Toronto Grand Prix in 17 years. He closed the season with an impressive eight podiums, three wins, two poles and one best lap time. That performance was enough to garner Champ Car Atlantic Rookie of the Year honors hands down for Perera. Winning is no stranger to the driver who has now been dubbed "Fearless." Early in his karting career, Perera was quickly nicknamed "Mosquito" by journalists because he was so skilled he would quickly buzz past the other drivers. From 1996 to 1999, Perera won five karting championships including being crowned "Karting World Champion" at age 15. That caught the eye of Toyota, who then signed Perera in 2001 along with Ryan Briscoe to be the first two drivers in the world in the "Toyota F-1 Young Drivers Development Program." Perera's championship wins continued in 2002 as the Formula Renault Eurocup Champion, the 2003 Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Champion, and the 2004 F3 Euro Series Rookie Champion, along with an impressive fifth place in the Macao Grand Prix and a spectacular second place behind Lewis Hamilton in the GP2 Monaco Grand Prix of 2006. "I really enjoyed racing in America this year." said Franck Perera, "I want to be in Champ Car next year for sure. We had a pre-agreement before Christmas with a Champ Car team, but my management CJMotorsport asked for the contract back so we could be free to do a deal with other teams who are ready to commit now. I hope to announce my new team the first week of January."
Recent Articles
|
Racing Multimedia
Recommendations |