Carpentier top at Milwaukee
Patrick Carpentier was the first to show in a three-day Champ Car test on the Milwaukee Mile oval. The Canadian led a group of three racers who dipped under the 21-second mark
"I'm really happy with how we have run in the last two tests at Milwaukee and Portland," said Carpentier who has pretty good form on the track having set pole in 1997 and finished on the podium in 2000 and 2003. "I like the track here a lot. For me, the wing configuration we run here really suits me well. You can attack the corners and the car doesn't slide around on you very much."
Ryan Hunter-Reay was second quickest for Herdez, with Rocketsports Racing's Alex Tagliani, the 2003 Milwaukee pole-winner, third ahead of the podium finishers from the first round of the series at Long Beach. Bruno Junqueira was fourth best for Newman/Haas Racing ahead of Long Beach winner Paul Tracy in his Forsythe car and the second Newman/Haas Lola of Sebastien Bourdais.
The Frenchman felt he'd made good progress, having struggled at Milwaukee during his otherwise impressive 2003 rookie season. "Last year I really didn't enjoy my time here," said Bourdais. "I left here very unhappy with how it went. We have some more work to do but we got a lot done today. We made a lot of changes and I feel pretty good with it."
Briton Justin Wilson was the best of this year's rookies with seventh best time, in only his second ever oval test.
"It went pretty well and the team did a great job getting a lot done," said Wilson. "It's all about me finding my way around and getting confidence. We put on new tyres and would find a half a second, then go through the rest of the run finding a way to keep that time on older tyres. Then you put on new tyres again and find some more time. It's just working through it."
Thirteen drivers took part in the test, which is scheduled to continue for two more days.
Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Championship Racing 20.86s
Ryan Hunter-Reay Herdez Competition 20.93s
Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing 20.98s
Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing 21.00s
Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship Racing 21.12s
Sebastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing 21.14s
Justin Wilson Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 21.39s
Jimmy Vasser PKV Racing 21.44s
Michel Jourdain RuSPORT 22.04s
Nelson Philippe Rocketsports Racing 22.09s
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