Bourdais Completes Rookie Test
Reigning Champ Car Champion Sebastien Bourdais has completed his Rookie Orientation programme for this year's Indy 500
Frenchman Bourdais was the only driver to complete the programme on the second day of practice for this year's event and joins Danica Patrick, Ryan Briscoe, Jeff Bucknum, Patrick Carpentier, Paul Dana and Tomas Enge who successfully completed the programme on last Sunday.
Bourdais said: "They wanted to waive the rookie programme for me but I really felt that I needed it. We really took our time and went through all the phases one by one.
"I didn't really know what to expect, because everybody was saying I have experience, but my experience is nothing. I've got absolutely none on superspeedways, and that was the real point for me about this rookie programme. I've never driven an IRL car before. The only time I drove an open-wheel car with low downforce was testing in 2003 at Fontana and that's it!
"You have to treat this track with a lot of respect and I had that kind of feeling when I went out the first time. I've been trying to do this race for two years, so it's good to get off on the right foot."
"We just tested with the kind of downforce we would expect to race with. We worked on the balance and started with a lot of understeer to make sure I wasn't going to lose it or anything. We then worked our way through setups and adjustments."
Danica Patrick posted the fastest lap for the second consecutive day lapping the 2.5-mile oval in 40.4056 seconds, 222.741 mph.
Scott Mayer has passed three phases of the test and can complete the final phase of the programme today (Tuesday) when practice opens to veterans.
Fastest speeds, Rookie Orientation Programme, Day Two:
Pos Driver Chassis-Engine Speed 1. Danica Patrick Panoz Honda 222.741 mph 2. Tomas Enge Dallara Chevy 219.914 mph 3. Sebastien Bourdais Panoz Honda 219.421 mph 4. Jeff Ward Dallara Toyota 211.200 mph 5. Scott Mayer Dallara Toyota 204.217 mph
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