Forsythe Racing Laguna Seca test wrap-up

Red Bull Team Forsythe Finishes Successful Atlantic Test Season

MONTEREY, California - Friday, 9 March 2007 - The Red Bull Team Forsythe squad wrapped up the final preseason Atlantic test this week at legendary Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca in the rolling hill country overlooking California's Monterey Bay, home to some of the most storied battles in Atlantic history. Drivers Robert Wickens and John Edwards had a productive two days as both drivers posted top-five times in at least one of the four on-track sessions despite focusing on race weekend simulations around the demanding 2.238-mile road course. With the season-opening event just weeks away, the team and its young drivers are fully prepared and focused on winning the 2007 title as Cooper Tires Presents the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda.

Robert Wickens #3 Red Bull / INDECK

"Seeing the testing season come to a close is kind of a double-edged sword; on the one hand I'm glad we're ready to go racing now, but on the other hand it's like no amount of testing is enough! Red Bull Team Forsythe has really jelled in a lot of ways over these last few months and these guys are like my second family now. When John and I are sitting on the starting grid in Las Vegas next month we know we have a great group of people standing right behind us, and that means a lot. We had another good test here at Mazda Raceway and worked a lot on what it feels like on a race weekend, trying to put in fast laps when we had to do it and then doing some race distance stuff on the final day. We're ready to go, and if we've done everything right we should see good results!"

John Edwards #7 Red Bull / INDECK

"It seems like we've covered all the bases, and although everybody wants to be the fastest driver in testing I'm glad we've been focusing on some important things that will help both Robbie and I perform to our best this season since we're both pretty young. We know that tuning our heads is as important as getting the car right, and the Red Bull team has exposed us to all those little details that produce a winning season. When we do focus on outright speed we seem to be right there at the top of the time sheets, but I think all the effort we've put into qualifying and race simulations will pay off this year. With a field this competitive, qualifying is going to be ultra-important and we've really focused on dealing with things like red flags, traffic and putting in that quick lap when you need it and when the Cooper tires are at their best. I can't wait for the first race!"

John Brunner, Team Manager

"We came to Mazda Raceway with the goal of getting the guys into race mode. The previous tests have been about building team chemistry and finding out what works and doesn't work on the cars, along with testing the physical conditioning of John and Robert. The physical aspect is going very well with both guys training hard and even traveling to Austria several times for the very intensive Red Bull workout program. As a result they've been showing consistent speed over long runs but for this test we really focused on racing by the clock. We did some practice and qualifying simulations that required the guys to find space on track and put in their fast laps at the appropriate time, and then on the final day we did full race distance simulations. Overall it was a good two days and we're as ready as we can be for Las Vegas."

Red Bull Team Forsythe now returns to its base in Indianapolis to begin final preparations for the season-opening event April 6-8 between the casinos on the downtown streets of Las Vegas as the all the teams and drivers begin the chase for the $2 million dollar pot of gold awarded to the season champion.

-credit: fr