Newman/Haas team poised to dominate again?
In testing this week at Sebring, their drivers – Sebastien Bourdais and Bruno Junqueira turned laps quite a bit faster than anyone else, although Nelson Philippe was nipping at their heels.
Both driver led the way over the two days of testing at Sebring International Raceway, with Bourdais (right) clocking a best lap of 49.93 seconds on Wednesday. Both drivers ran again on Thursday before afternoon rains closed things down three hours early. Both Bourdais and Junqueira ran 175 miles each today with Bourdais setting a best lap time of 50.1 and Junqueira a 50.2.
“Things went very well for us," Bourdais said. “We had a very good first day, the conditions were just about perfect and we worked on quite a few things. The track was very grippy and fast, and we did a lot of laps so it was a good physical workout as well. We ran a lot of laps and a lot of them in the 50s (seconds), so we were working hard. I think we’re ready for the season to start." In part from Champ Car
Nelson Philippe, pictured right in his yet to be painted Lola Ford almost matched the speed of the Newman/Haas duo.
Fastest Sebring Lap Times since November, 2005
1. Sebastien Bourdais 49.93 seconds (N/H car)
2. Bruno Junqueira 50.1 seconds (N/H car)
3. Nelson Philippe 50.31 (Thursday on 50-mile day)
4. Oriol Servia 50.65 (Thursday on 50-mile day)
5. Franck Montagny 50.8 (PKV car)
6. Giorgio Pantano 50.9
7. Ryan Briscoe 51.0
8. Ryan Dalziel 51.5
9. Katherine Legge 51.5 (PKV car)
10. Jan Heylen 51.73 (Mi-Jack Conquest)
11. Charles Zwolsman 51.8
12. Alx Danielsson 52.1
13. Richard Lyons 52.2
14. Katherine Legge 53.2 (Rocketsports Car)
15. Dan Clarke 53.5
16. Tonis Kasemets 54.4