You'd think a team that went through a half dozen drivers and seldom got within shouting distance of the podium last year would be over the moon with a 2006 season that has netted three podium finishes already and sees one of its drivers currently fourth in points and another in eleventh -- but just two points out of eighth-place. source: champcarworldseries.com Not to mention having placed both drivers in the top five in two consecutive weekends (Denver and Montreal), something mighty Newman/Haas Racing has failed to do and Forsythe Championship Racing has managed but once this year. Make no mistake, CTE/HVM Racing owner Keith Wiggins is pleased with the performance of his team and drivers Nelson Philippe and Dan Clarke. Satisfied? Not hardly. "I don't think you can ever afford to be satisfied in this sport," says Wiggins. "It's nice to be on the podium, but you can never stop pushing until you're beating Newman/Haas regularly and doing what Sebastien (Bourdais) is doing. Even then you can't afford to relax. "Having said that, the other day (team manager) Vince (Kremer) said, 'If we'd gotten some of these results last year we'd have jumping through hoops.'" Indeed, the contrast between this year's version of the team and CTE/HVM circa 2005 is considerable. Last year the team worked 24/7/365 just to keep its head above water in the wake of long-time sponsor/partner Herdez' withdrawal from the sport. A steady succession of rookies and/or young drivers including Ronnie Bremer, Bjorn Wirdheim, Rodolfo Lavin, Alex Sperafico, Homero Richards and Fabrizio del Monte drove for the team, with Wirdheim alone making more than half a dozen starts in a CTE/HVM Lola.
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