Formula BMW

USA: Alexander Rossi Houston test notes

Alexander Rossi Ends FBMWUSA Spring Training In Impressive Fashion Californian Youngster at the front of the Field for much of Houston FBMW USA test MSR Houston, TX -- The final two days of official Formula BMWUSA testing were intensive affairs ...

Published: Apr 25, 2007, 4:45 PM

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Alexander Rossi Ends FBMWUSA Spring Training In Impressive Fashion

Californian Youngster at the front of the Field for much of Houston FBMW USA test

MSR Houston, TX -- The final two days of official Formula BMWUSA testing were intensive affairs for the young drivers. Accustomed to hours of track time with which to build up to speed, at MSR their track-time was slashed in order to accommodate practice starts and media duties throughout the weekend. This busy, distracting schedule made the test far closer to a real race weekend, and it was interesting to see who adapted best to the added pressures.

Alexander Rossi and the Hearn Motorsports team were certainly adapted well, "We were quick right out of the box," smiled Rossi after the opening day, "we were at the top of the timesheets pretty much every session -- I felt very comfortable. It's just a matter of getting the timing right with new tires and chassis set-ups. We know we're quick and look forward to showing it tomorrow."

True to his word, Rossi continued to run with the pace-setters on day two. "It seems that we've been close to the leaders." The Californian driver grinned, before explaining the team's game-plan for the end-of-day runs. "The last half-hour will be a replica of a qualifying session, with the possibility of red flags and people throwing it off the track. It will also give us a good idea of where everyone is."

Rossi's prediction of a red flag proved right and the day's activities ended early when one car became beached in a gravel trap. At that moment the Hearn team had just given Alexander a tweaked set-up with which to improve his time and he was about to exit the pit-lane; the red flag forcing him to drive back to the garage and deny him the opportunity to better his already impressive fastest lap of 1:31.651 sec, just a few tenths from the fastest time.

From their timesheet records of the previous day the team knew exactly the amount of time the new set-up would have gained Rossi. "We would have probably picked up another couple of tenths which would have gained us three places," He shrugged, "but we were consistently gaining speed all day, so that was a plus." Despite the minor disappointment, both Team and driver were genuinely pleased with their weekend's work.

"The off-season has been fantastic." Rossi concluded. "The team and I are working really well and we look forward to a really successful season ahead. We have very high expectations." Asked what those expectations might be he replied; "Our goal is to be at the top and to have a really successful season, so our goal is to be on the podium every single race. I'm very excited."

-credit: rossi/jb

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