Long Beach, USA - 2 April 2006: British driver Tim Bridgman (Dunmow, Essex) will make his race debut in the Champ Car Atlantic championship when the season starts next weekend (7-9 April) at the Long Beach circuit in California.

Some 30 contestants are vying for the US$2 million title prize and the opening event promises to be a huge spectacle, for which estimated crowds of 175,000 turned up last year, as the first of 12 races supporting the Champ Car World Series across North America.

Bridgman says the race will be a culmination of a lot of hard work and effort by everyone in the team: "I can't wait to get started and get some points on the board. The weekend should be really fun for everyone as well; it's a massive event that virtually starts a week before the race."

The 20-year-old will be in Long Beach during the build-up to have a look round the track and get to know the area. "Having never even been to a street circuit before, let alone raced at one, it's going to be a learning curve but I'm sure we'll be fine. It looks awesome from what I've seen of onboard footage and computer games so I'm really excited and focusing hard on getting a good result."

Free practice and first qualifying this Friday will be the third day Bridgman has taken out the 2006 Mazda-Cosworth/Swift 016.a/Yokohama. He will race in his Epson Team Jensen car, displaying the livery of the principle team sponsor Epson, who last week announced they renewed their partnership with the team.