Team Manager Vince Kremer was pleased with the progress the team made as they prepared for the upcoming event; “this test was huge for us in terms of the development of the car set-up.  We spent hours testing various areas of the car, including the dampers, suspension and rockers.  What we found today are set-up developments that are not only pertinent to Portland, but that will help us throughout the season at most of the tracks we go to.” Kremer continued, “We learned what we needed to learn, and we will be fast when we return here because of what we established in this test. When it comes to fine-tuning the set-up for the Champ Cars, the best way to learn is through trying and that is why these tests are so valuable.”

Mario Dominguez completed 160 trouble-free miles, his best lap time was a 59.5 second lap around the 1.969 road course, “It was a good day for us.  This is a challenging track and a great place to test.  I am very pleased with the progress we made here, we have a strong engineering group, they work very well together and the car is good because of it.”

Fresh off his debut as a Herdez driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay was also pleased, “We had a great morning, and the car was fast right away.  This afternoon we settled into our test plan and we learned what not to do which is very useful; it is what testing is all about.  We now know what doesn't work and what will be good for the race weekends ahead. Testing gives us the opportunity to try things that we can't take the time to develop during a race weekend.”  Hunter-Reay set his best time in the afternoon, he ran a 59.1 second lap and also completed 160 miles, “my guys have done a great job, through all of our testing and during the race weekend at Long Beach, my car has been flawless, they are fantastic.”

The Herdez crew has returned to their Indianapolis race shop where they are turning both the #4 and #55 cars into oval set-ups in preparation for their next test, which takes place at the Milwaukee Mile on May 5th.