MINARDI TEAM USA DRIVERS FASTEST IN FIRST DAY OF TESTING AT MONT-TREMBLANT source: minarditeamusa.com Minardi Team USA drivers Robert Doornbos and Dan Clarke topped the time charts today for the first of two private test days at the Circuit Mont-Tremblant. Minardi Team USA made good use of the six weeks of idle time between Champ Car World Series races and showed today they have the speed to contend for the Championship. Robert Doornbos was quickest, with an unofficial time of 1 min 17.97 secs. Both he and Dan recently returned from Europe, where they spent several days promoting the Champ Car races in Assen and Zolder, later this year, but he hasn't driven since the Portland test earlier this month. "It is nice to be back in the car after a bit of a break. Obviously the time off is being spent wisely by everyone on the team. The entire engineering staff did a great job crunching data from the Portland test, and it showed today. Mont-Tremblant is a great circuit and a wonderful town. It is very challenging track and a lot of fun to drive, and I look forward to tomorrow. As always, we will keep pushing to keep improving," said Doornbos. Dan Clarke had the second fastest lap time of the day, at 1 min 18.10 secs. Following a strong test at Portland, Dan has also made good use of the break in the schedule, rediscovering the speed he displayed toward the end of his rookie season last year. "So it's not a bad start for us here. We have a full day tomorrow and a lot more testing to be done, but it's obviously great for all of us to be out in front on this first day. We got to grips with the circuit very quickly, and were fastest all day. Everyone on the team is really pushing, and it feels good that Minardi Team USA came out on top." said Clarke. Keith Wiggins, Team Co-Owner "It's great that we started out this test the right way, and were quick right out of the box. Tomorrow is another day, and we obviously hope to continue this trend then. Circuit Mont-Tremblant is a beautiful, challenging track that suits us and our drivers, and we are making progress as a team. We look forward to returning here in June."
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