Herbert to sample CART at Rockingham

Formula 1 veteran and Le Mans winner Herbert should get behind the wheel of a Dale Coyne-run machine next Tuesday.

Coyne has announced that Alex Barron will test his 2000-spec Lola-Ford at Rockingham Speedway on July 31. If Barron's test works out as planned, Coyne said Herbert will take his first oval track laps in a Champ Car at the Corby facility.

"We are very excited about being able to get Alex back into circulation after the superior job he did for us at the end of last year," said Coyne. "The ability to also provide this historic first running for Johnny Herbert in a Champ Car is also something I am very proud to offer."

Coyne's currently idle team will then run Barron for a day at Euromotorspeedway in Lausitz, Germany, and will then share the information gleaned at the two new oval venues with all of the other Champ Car teams. The test is being officially sanctioned by CART.

Coyne merged his team merged with Team PRG earlier this season and ran cars for Michael Krumm and Luiz Garcia Jr. But the Coyne cars have not been seen on a Champ Car grid since they qualified for the aborted Texas race in April. Coyne had hoped to run Barron for a full CART campaign after the American showed very well in the last couple of races of the 2000 season.

"I appreciate the opportunity that Dale has given me last year and again now," said Barron. "It will be good to be back in a Champ Car after our successful finish to last year."

Coyne said that in an agreement with CART, his team will provide a full engineering report that will be made available to all the teams. He added that by running a 2000-spec chassis and engine, no one would gain an unfair advantage from the data.