Bourdais on top at Sebring

The Frenchman lapped the 1.67-mile version of the Sebring sportscar course in 52.15 seconds, an average lap speed of 115.28 mph, to pip his former teammate Bruno Junqueira by a scant 0.03 seconds.

The Brazilian Dale Coyne Racing driver will run again tomorrow, although he does not have many laps of his allocation left to use up. Bourdais, by contrast, has run out of test time.

Third fastest was Oriol Servia who despite being released by Forsythe Championship Racing for the final two rounds of the season, nonetheless agreed to use up his test miles for the squad today. Erstwhile teammate Paul Tracy, who is also close to the end of his test mileage, will replace Servia on Tuesday.

The man who is replacing Servia at Forsythe, David Martinez, logged many laps today in his first proper seat time in the DP01. His only previous Champ Car experience was a one-off race for Forsythe in the 2006 season finale on his home ground in Mexico City, and a photoshoot in the DP01 earlier this year.

The Mexican said: "It's hard to compare this car with last year's Lola, because obviously it is a big gap between drive. But it still feels like a Champ Car, but maybe with more stability at the rear.

"What held me back in the morning was that I have never driven on this track before at Sebring, although I have driven the sportscar course. But we are testing to give me miles in the car and to test set-ups for Surfers Paradise.

"The team have been really good with me. They just want me to get experience and to get comfortable, and they're not rushing me with feedback. But of course I'm giving them everything I can."

Martinez ended the day an admirable 0.65 seconds off Servia's best, particularly impressive given that he required an engine change in the afternoon when his first unit suffered an oil leak.

Alex Figge startled many observers with his lap times, the American topping the timesheets in the morning, and after a rain shower mid afternoon, working down to a 52.35 second lap. His new Pacific Coast Motorsports teammate Mario Dominguez appeared to struggle exiting the 90 degree right-hander at Turn 1, but eventually turned fifth fastest time.

PKV Racing's Neel Jani lost time to a failed turbocharger in the morning, but still clocked fifth fastest, while Team Australia worked hard on Surfers Paradise set-ups, in particular their braking and handling on raised ride heights. This is deemed essential for the Australian street-race given its high kerbing (albeit, reduced for 2007).

Simon Pagenaud said: "Today has been really really good. We have found a solution to something that I have been struggling with all year to do with the car's turn in. We've improved the rotation of the car on corner entry, and I'm surprised to discover that this change even works over bumps. I'm feeling very very positive."

James Winslow, who currently leads the Asian Formula Renault V6 Championship, got his first taste of Champ Car power today when he tested for Conquest Racing. The Briton made the transition from 375 bhp to 750 bhp with aplomb, but he admitted he wasn't satisfied with his lap times, the best of which was 3.5 seconds off Bourdais' fastest.

"I'd like to have knock a second from my times, but I have to be realistic," said Winslow. "This first day was about getting used to the car, on Tuesday I hope to be able to really make progress.

"The power side of it is not a problem, but I'm losing a lot of time under braking. You're supposed to put 1500 psi of pressure, and I'm only applying 1000, so I've got to change that. But I knew it would be tough: I've only been left foot braking for three races."

Pos  Driver             Team                       Time
 1.  S. Bourdais        Newman/Haas/Lanigan        52.15
 2.  Bruno Junqueira    Dale Coyne                 52.18
 3.  Oriol Servia       Forsythe                   52.31
 4.  Alex Figge         Pacific Coast Motorsports  52.35
 5.  Neel Jani          PKV                        52.38
 6.  Mario Dominguez    Pacific Coast Motorsports  52.41
 7.  Tristan Gommendy   PKV                        52.45
 8.  Will Power         Team Australia             52.51
 9.  Simon Pagenaud     Team Australia             52.52
10.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan        52.96
11.  David Martinez     Forsythe                   52.96
12.  Katherine Legge    Dale Coyne                 53.04
13.  James Winslow      Conquest                   55.66