Walker Racing has began its 2007 Champ Car Atlantic campaign in full-on fashion at Sebring at the weekend, running its newest members, Ryan Lewis and Simona de Silvestro alongside two Atlantic hopefuls.
British FFord champion Nathan Freke and American F3 Euroseries runner Jonathan Summerton joined the fray as the Indianapolis-based team widened its search for a third driver to complete it line-up. Freke got his first taste of an Atlantic car at Sebring, impressing by clocking a fastest lap of 59.974secs on Saturday, while Summerton replaced the Briton in the car, nut found his running hampered by varying conditions on Sunday.
“This was a great new experience for me," Freke revealed, "It definitely was a steep learning curve, but I got a lot of valuable seat time. It was great working with the team and it was a good test overall."
“I really enjoyed my first time in the Atlantic car," agreed 18-year old Summerton, despite running in worse conditions than his rival, "It's very similar to the F3 car, so it was easy to adjust, and the test worked out really well. It's all about learning and getting seat time.”
The Walker team made a number of changes to its cars during the test, logging around 240 laps during the two-day session.
“This was a very successful test for us,” stated team owner Derrick Walker, “Each driver that we tested ran right at the front at some point of each session - they didn't miss a beat. We learned a lot as team.”
Topping the charts for the team was newest member Lewis, the 22-year old lapping sixth fastest on Saturday, with a time of 58.864secs, and third fastest on Sunday, at 58.885secs.
“I think our days went really well," the Briton reported, "We got some good times in and, while I don't think it's exactly where we wanted to be, we learned what worked and what didn't work, and we will be better on the pace for MSR Houston next month.”
![Nathan Freke - Walker Racing [pic courtesy Champ Car Atlantic Championship]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/286207.jpg)
