Perera ends Sebring test on top

The Frenchman, who finished runner-up in Champ Car Atlantic last season, improved his form from the previous two days of running to climb from fourth to first place on the final afternoon.

Perera was encouraged by his early form with Conquest Racing: "It's good that we can already fight with the top guys," he said.

"The test was a crescendo. Each session we were faster, and we tested many things for all the phases of a race weekend and did well in each one."

Graham Rahal was the only other driver to break the 50-second barrier and finished second overall for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, just 0.150 seconds shy of Perera.

Veteran Alex Tagliani was delighted to set the third quickest time and hopes the performance will help him to stay with PKV Racing for the season.

He said: "This team can and will compete for the championship. Hopefully I will make the line-up and if I do I think it will be a turning point in my career."

PKV's second driver Oriol Servia finished the test fourth, ahead of Briton Justin Wilson. Frenchman Franck Montagny, who had topped the timesheets on the first two days, was sixth after failing to improve his time from Sunday.

Several other newcomers had their first taste of Champ Car, including GP2 race winner Ernesto Viso, F3 graduate Mario Moraes, sportscar driver Alex Figge, and ex-F1 driver Enrique Bernoldi, who has already signed for Rocketsports Racing.

The series will continue its pre-season testing programme at Laguna Seca on March 13-14 and Houston on March 28-29, ahead of the opening round at Long Beach on April 20.

Combined times:

Pos  Driver             Team                             Time    Laps
 1.  Franck Perera      Conquest Racing                  49.806   205
 2.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing       49.950   238
 3.  Alex Tagliani      PKV Racing                       50.173   281
 4.  Oriol Servia       PKV Racing                       50.178   288
 5.  Justin Wilson      Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing       50.207   269
 6.  Franck Montagny    Forsythe/Pettit Racing           50.209   207
 7.  Bruno Junqueira    Dale Coyne Racing                50.507   247
 8.  Alex Figge         Pacific Coast Motorsports        50.521   247
 9.  Simon Pagenaud     Conquest Racing                  50.702   186
10.  Enrique Bernoldi   Rocketsports Racing              50.714   255
11.  Paul Tracy         Forsythe/Pettit Racing           50.732   179
12.  David Martinez     Pacific Coast Motorsports        50.736   255
13.  Ernesto Viso       Minardi Team USA                 50.800   164
14.  Mario Moraes       Dale Coyne Racing                50.930   241