NA-F2000: Daniel Erickson Road America Friday notes

Daniel Erickson on the pace in Road America practice

Speed and consistency were the hallmarks of Daniel Erickson's performance in the three F2000 Championship Series practice sessions at Road America today.

The young Australian was the only driver to figure in the top three in each session, as he prepared for the weekend's penultimate race meeting of the national 'development' openwheel championship.

Buoyed by yesterday's confirmation of financial assistance from the Australian Motor Sport Foundation, he made a promising Road America debut by lapping his Primus/Quantum Racing Van Diemen RF02 second-fastest in the first session.

He went one better in the second session, heading the list with a 2min. 15.694sec. lap - just 0.15 seconds outside the daunting 6.5km Wisconsin circuit's all-time F2000 qualifying record.

In the final session, he was at the pointy end of the field again with the third-fastest time.

Erickson was pleased overall with his day's results.

"Second-fastest in the first practice session was a surprise, because the first session is always a steep learning curve at an unfamiliar circuit - especially a long and high-speed one like Road America," he said.

"We lost a bit of time in the pits early on with a minor brake problem, but the Primus/Quantum Racing guys fixed it quickly so it didn't affect our set-up program too much.

"The second session went really well. I started to get a feel for the track, and the car was getting faster as we dialled in the aero and suspension settings.

"The third session, which is a luxury we don't often get at these race meetings, was an opportunity for the team to experiment with different set-ups for the weekend.

"Some things worked better than others, but we gathered a lot of useful information about the car.

"Although we didn't set the fastest time of the session, we're hopeful of qualifying near the front and finishing on the podium in both championship rounds."

Erickson goes into this weekend's Road America race meeting sixth overall and top-placed rookie in the 2010 F2000 Championship Series pointscore.

Despite missing four of the 10 rounds held to date, he has a realistic chance of finishing the championship in the top three overall.

The race meeting features a 30-minute qualifying session in the morning and a 13-lap/30-minute F2000 Championship Series race in the afternoon on Saturday and Sunday.

Race fans can follow this weekend's action 'live' online via the official F2000 Championship Series website's Twitter page.

Very fast and 6.5km long, Road America is one of the world's most demanding road racing circuits.

-source: daniel erickson PR