Long Beach, California: 9 April 2006 - Tim Bridgman (Dunmow, Essex) showed he is a competitive force in this year's Champ Car Atlantic Championship, running at the sharp end of the 30-strong grid in the season-opener at Long Beach on the weekend.

 

The 20-year-old finished third fastest in Saturday practice before qualifying tenth in the afternoon after traffic reduced his morning's lap time by more than half a second.  "We came in for fresh tyres and we're caught the bulk of the field on our exit. Given the traffic I was surprised to have made the top 10 to be honest," he said.

 

The Epson Team Jensen driver made the most of his starting slot on Sunday's race, quickly gaining three places into seventh, where he ran for the most of the race before caution flags came out as several cars lost their battle with the barriers on the twisting street circuit.

 

As race resumed on lap 20 of 32, Bridgman was overtaking on turn one and hit a piece of track that had caught out several drivers before him. The incident saw him having to retire from the race.  "I was happy with how the car and team were performing, so it's disappointing for the guys who worked super hard all weekend," he said. "But we showed we had the pace and our sponsors really enjoyed the event-it was an amazing atmosphere for opening race-so it was a good race weekend from that point of view and I'm feeling positive about the next race."

 

Bridgman now returns to the UK before flying back out for race two of the series at Houston in May.