Premat impresses

The 24-year-old Frenchman who has raced in GP2 for the past two seasons, drove for Conquest Racing on the first of two days. Although no times were released from the test, all the teams present recorded Premat as the quickest of the day by 0.4 seconds.

Premat said: "I really like ChampCar a lot, I watched every race this year and I intend on doing everything I can to be in the series this year.

"The car is a lot of fun. The acceleration was great, the stability of the car was very impressive and I am glad that I got to run some laps today so I can be ready for a full day tomorrow."

Premat was joined at Conquest by his compatriot Guillaume Moreau – who has run in the Formula Three Euroseries this year. Moreau's times were still competitive though, compared to the rest of the runners.

Series newcomers Pacific Coast Motorsports (PCM) were also in action with their 2007 driver line-up of Ryan Dalziel and Alex Figge – both of whom will move over from the team's Grand-Am sportscar squad next season.

British driver Dalziel and Amercian Figge both lapped the circuit in a pair of Lolas borrowed from Rocketsports Racing, as they and their engineers re-familiarised themselves with single seaters.

"We've done a good bit of testing already but you never really get over the shock of how ridiculously fast a Champ Car is," said Dalziel.

"We know we have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to get it done, so every bit of time we get in the car is valuable to the whole team."

Slowest of all was Richard Philippe – the 16-year-old brother of Surfers Paradise winner Nelson Philippe – as Forsythe tried out the teenager while they ran a number of 2007 parts on their current car.

Testing continues at the circuit tomorrow.