Tracy has first Forsythe test

The Canadian completed around 60 laps of the 1.72-mile circuit. It was his first run with the new Ford engine that will power every car in the series next year, and the first time Tracy has driven a car powered by the marque since he raced for the Newman/Haas team back in 1995.

"I believe that getting used to the Ford engine is the biggest hurdle for me at this time," said Tracy. "It drives a lot differently than what I've been accustomed to, so I've got to learn the engine's characteristics, and that's something we will be working on in our pre-season testing sessions."

The only major problem the team suffered during the day's testing was the late arrival of Tracy's new race suit. "[It] was a bit late arriving, but I was happy when it got here," he said. "I put it on as soon as I saw it. It's been a good day. We seem to be quite competitive right away, with no mechanical problems or issues at all."

Although new to the Forsythe team, Tracy was reunited with the team's technical advisor Tony Cicale, who was the Canadian's race engineer when he drove for Team Green.

"After this first day of testing, it's clear that Paul is a great addition to the team," said Team Player's manager Phil LePan. "He has plenty of experience, he's very calm and cool, and you can see right away that his relationship with Tony Cicale will be a big benefit to the team's success this season."

Two other ChampCar teams joined Forsythe at Sebring. Luis Diaz stood in for team owner Adrian Fernandez at Fernandez Racing, whilst Mario Dominguez was in action for the Herdez team.