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Bridgman left wanting after Houston race
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08 May 2006
Houston, Texas - 15 May 2006: The Fast Trac 100 at the Grand Prix of Houston did not offer-up an easy second round of the Champ Car Atlantic Championship for Dunmow’s Tim Bridgman.
A new racing car and a uniquely bumpy and high G circuit presented an extremely unique challenge this weekend for the British driver. Regularly in the top five at the season opening race at Long Beach California, Bridgman struggled in practice and qualifying with what at first was believed to be gearbox problems. In the end, the particular issue was found to be that due to narrow cockpit and an extremely bumpy circuit, Bridgman's elbow was contacting the new car's gearshift linkage thereby impeding gearshifts. Unfortunately this issue limited Bridgman's track time in qualifying, causing him to qualify an uncharacteristic 23rd.
The race was a different story. The twenty-year-old masterfully worked his way through traffic and avoided multiple crashes, to move into a credible 11th place position. All for naught though, as Bridgman has the bad luck to run over some debris left on circuit following the major crash of Alex Barron, which caused the #2 Epson Team Jensen driver to make heavy impact with the wall.
Bridgman and the team are expecting luck to come their way in the next round at Monterrey Mexico on May 19-21. Team owner Eric Jensen states "Tim's skill will shine true on the slippery Monterrey circuit. All winter in testing, plus in the early season races, everyone has witnessed how Tim is magic on cold tires. His car control is about the best I've ever seen, and I am confident that we are in store for a terrific result given the layout of the Monterrey track, and moreover that our luck is due to come good".
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