©1999 SpeedCenter Publishing
After a successful test in the middle of February in Monterrey, Mexico with a Lola B98/00, Herdez backed driver Michel Jourdain Jr. and his team headed to Miami-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex for a two-day testing session, February 26-27, 1999. This was his first opportunity to drive the new Herdez-Viva Mexico!/Lola B99/00 Champ Car.
Jourdain Jr. began testing in late November for the 1999 FedEx Championship Series season in a 1998 Lola, while waiting for the Lola factory to complete the B99/00. This week was the first run in his new 1999 chassis.
Michel Jourdain Jr., Car #19 Herdez/Payton-Coyne Racing: "It feels good to drive a new car. The first day (Friday) we were not able to begin testing until the afternoon, since the team was working on the car in the morning. We couldn't complete many laps, because of a recurring misfire. Toward the end of the day the failure seemed to be fixed, but it was too late to keep running, and my best time was 26.7 seconds."
"The second day (Saturday) the car again developed a misfire and it affected our plans for the testing. The team will work on the failure, which is probably in the chassis wiring loom."
"Due to this situation, the team decided to return to Homestead this week for a final test. Although we had not planned any additional testing, we felt it was important to work on different settings. The B99/00 has many features that have been changed from the previous version, and we want to make sure we maximize its performance"
