With his Champ Car debut less than two weeks behind him, Rocketsports driver, Guy Smith faced the daunting superspeedway oval at Las Vegas Motorspeedway and posted the most impressive results among the rookie drivers, who ventured out for the Champ Car test source: Nadia Petrossi - rocketsportsracing.com The test was conducted from approximately 2:00 to 10:00 PM to better simulate the temperature and conditions of the night race, set for September 25th.Ahead of many veterans in the 15 car field, Smith was sixth quickest and clocked a lap time of 26.725 (202.058 mph) on the 1.5 mile oval. "This was my first time back on an oval since 2000, with Indy Lights at Michigan and Fontana, and I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I felt comfortable and competitive. Within ten laps I was flat out and on pace with the field. I was fast all the way and had complete confidence in the car, which was strong and aggressive," said Smith. "I had a nice run at Vegas, completing about 70 laps. I'm quite confident. I ran with the Newman-Haas cars, tucked in behind and passed. We'll further develop our suspension geometries for the race, so there's even greater potential to go significantly faster. But my car was quick in the test, and great running in traffic, which is good for my confidence. "The Vegas night race will be entertaining," promised Smith. "The Champ Cars will be very close to each other, two and sometimes three wide, which creates a real challenge in the engineering. We had a good formula for the set up of the No.17 Rocketsports car, and expect to be strong for the race. The open-wheel race may be similar to stock car racing, hopefully with the exception of the physical contact, and with added speed and excitement. Whatever happens, it'll be a close and thrilling race." Smith won the 2003 Le Mans 24 Hours with team Bentley and first demonstrated his diverse skills in the Champ Car competition on August 8th at Road America, where he finished in the top-ten. Smith has since tackled the Denver street circuit and the Vegas oval. The variety of circuits, which are a trademark of the Champ Car World Series, will take Smith to road courses in Montreal on August 29th and Laguna Seca on September 12th, prior to the Vegas oval race.
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