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Photo by Mike Levitt
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.
The 30-year-old Californian organized a new team over the
off-season, forming a partnership with John Menard and Mike Held.
He tested the Team Gordon Johns Manville/Panasonic Toyota Swift
for the first time last week in CART's open test at Laguna Seca,
Calif., and was sixth fastest with a lap of 117.33 mph.
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.
"This is the first time we ran the Swift chassis on an oval, and we're
sneaking up on it," said Gordon, whose resume includes NASCAR
Winston Cup, off-road and sports car competition in addition to a
pair of victories and four pole positions in CART FedEx Championship
Series competition. "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. " If we didn't think we could win, we wouldn't enter,"
he said. "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. When we come back, I think
we'll have
Source: Team Gordon
