Justin Wilson was made to feel at home on a rain hit opening day of testing at MSR Houston, but the Briton took full advantage of the conditions to set the pace as the second test of the new Panoz DP01 chassis kicked off in Texas. source: crash.net The RuSPORT driver posted a best time of 1min 30.162secs on a day that was better suited for boats than Champ Cars to edge out defending champion Sebastien Bourdais - the Frenchman setting a fastest lap of 1min 30.378secs. However, while the conditions were far from ideal, Wilson admitted that the day had been vital to pre-season testing as it allowed teams to complete some serious wet weather running with the new car. "I think it's very important for us to test in the rain, any miles you can get in the wet in these cars are a big help in the learning process," he said. "We really learned a lot today, the car was reliable and ran all day with no problems and we got a lot done. We still have a lot of ground to cover to be ready for the opener, and hopefully it will be dry tomorrow so we can get more done." Former series champion Paul Tracy was third on the time charts but only ran 14 laps while Wilson and Bourdais both logged more than 50 laps apiece. He was followed on the time-sheets by Minardi Team USA tester Robert Doornbos, who was the most impressive of the rookies in fourth place. "I'm really starting to get used to the car and the rain made it harder, but it was better for me at the same time," the Dutchman said. "I'm used to just turning up the traction control in the F1 cars but here I need to use the right foot as my control, which is one of the things that makes Champ Car good, since the driver's ability plays such a big role in the success of the team." Nelson Philippe got a last-minute call to take over testing duties for Conquest Racing in Houston and rewarded team owner Eric Bachelart's faith by taking the #34 car to the fifth spot on the day's speed sheets. Philippe set best time of 1min 32.847secs and was the first driver in line to sample Champ Car's new standing start procedure when it was practiced for the first time.
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