Texas Test
TEAM FORSYTHE ROUNDS UP SERIOUS HORSEPOWER AT TEXAS TEST
HOUSTON, Texas – March 10, 2006 – The Lone Star State is all about horses and oil, and the two came together this week at Houston Motorsport Ranch on the outskirts of the city as Forsythe Racing rode into town for a two-day test session with drivers Paul Tracy and Mario Dominguez. With 750 turbocharged Ford-Cosworth horses on tap, hundreds of gallons of high-octane fuel being consumed and with local TV, radio and newspapers out in force to give the local market a taste of what to expect at the upcoming Houston Grand Prix in May, it was a Texas-sized event at one of the newest racing facilities in North America as the team gets ready for the 2006 edition of Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford.
Paul: “Overall I’m very happy with how things went. This is our first time at this track and let me tell you, it’s one of the most fun tracks I’ve ever driven. It’s got a nice combination of slow, medium and high speed corners, with one of the quickest road course corners anywhere. I was coming in there in seventh gear and not even lifting at the turn in; just a great place to test everything from shocks to aero. All the people here have been very welcoming and I’m excited to be back in Houston. I’ve won here in the past when we raced downtown and it’s a great market for Champ Car.”
Mario Dominguez (#7 INDECK Lola/Ford-Cosworth/Bridgestone): “We had a very good test even though the second day got cut short a little by some high winds. What an amazing facility this is! It’s great to have so much interest from the Latin fans here in Houston; it’s very close to home for me (Dominguez hails from Mexico City). I’m glad the media got to come out and see first hand what a Champ Car can do. This is a really big market for us and I’m looking forward to racing in front of all the Hispanic fans. The last race here was fantastic and I expect this one to be even better. And it’s really great to be working with Michael Cannon again.”
Engineer Michael Cannon recently rejoined the Forsythe Team after a stint at HVM Racing. “It’s really good to be back with the Forsythe organization. A big part of this test was for me to get reacquainted with the team and Mario. It was very windy at the end but we still managed to run a lot of test items, so I’m pretty satisfied. We’re all looking forward to the open test at Fontana (March 29-30) to see how we stack up against everybody else. It’s going to be a great season in Champ Car and we expect to be right up front.”
Team Manager Phil LePan: “This was another productive test, one of the best we’ve ever had. This place is a great test facility with a lot of variety. We’re very happy to have found a track that we can work with so well. The test ran smoothly and we got through a lot of test items that will help us during the season. Now it’s on to Fontana for our final test session and then we get down to business at Long Beach!”