When the CART FedEx Championship Series drivers visited South Florida for Spring Training in February in preparation for the March 21 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota, Robby Gordon was on the sidelines. Gordon tested his new Swift for the first time on an oval Thursday at Homestead. Friday, he ran a lap of 208.494 mph, 10th fastest of 13 drivers in the private test session. I had a good test at Laguna last week.
Road courses are a little easier to set up for than an oval.
You've got to be real careful to not have an 'oops' with it - you really pay a big price when you have that happen on an oval. We only have one car right now, due to being a new team late in the game, but by the time we leave here Saturday we should have a handle on it. While Team Gordon faces a steep learning curve against the more experienced CART competitors, Gordon hasn't lowered his expectations. I think that we will be very competitive when we return here. We're still a new team learning about the Swift chassis, the Firestone tires, the Toyota engine.