Ernesto Viso says he confident of the potential of the Minardi Team USA squad after completing his second test session with the Champ Car World Series squad.
The Venezuelan GP2 race-winner tested for the team before Christmas and returned to Sebring for a further two and a half days of running in the Panoz DP01.
This time around, he worked through a clearly defined technical programme aimed at helping both team and driver improve, while also taking the opportunity to try a variety of set-up changes on the car.
Although the test didn't pass without its problems, Viso said he was happy with how things had gone and was now looking forward to the next session at Laguna Seca next month.
“Testing was very successful, we went through a lot of things over the course of the two and a half days,” he said. “We worked through different suspension packages, and we now know where we are at and what we need to improve.
“We were a bit stuck on Saturday, working on the differential which takes time, and this morning we had the engine let go, otherwise I would be further up the charts. We are not worried about it at all, everybody is happy and we know we have the potential and we are going to be up there.”
Team co-owner Keith Wiggins was also happy with how the test had panned out, even though he admitted that test had been far from smooth.
“We accomplished a good amount,” he said. “We worked through our testing plan and made progress. We had a few hiccups, which delayed us a bit, one of which occurred this morning [Monday] when we had an engine failure just as we were planning on laying down some quick times.
“Things did not go as smoothly as we would have liked, but that's what testing is all about: learning things. We additionally developed our relationship with Ernesto and continue to believe he will do a good job. It's on to the next one at Laguna now.”
