Coming off a fairly impressive debut in Australia last month, Andreas Wirth was eager to learn more and clock as much time as possible behind the wheel of a Champ Car. source: Gail Shankland Unfortunately for Wirth, his run on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez course in Mexico City didn't go quite according to plan. Jumping into the #19 Dale Coyne/Sonny's Bar-B-Q entry in Mexico City this past Friday marked the beginning of Wirth's second career run in the Champ Car World Series. Naturally, Andreas was keen to put in a strong run, hoping to raise a few eyebrows in the paddock as his dream for 2007 lies with a full time Champ Car ride. Day one brought with it the challenges of finding the perfect set up in a relatively unfamiliar car, on a race course that was all-new to the young German. Sadly, under-steer seemed to be the nemesis on Friday and Wirth was penalized in morning practice for bringing out the red flag when he miscued at the chicane in Turn 15. From there however, things went from bad to worse when adjustments for under-steer were ineffective. Despite a less than spectacular result for the day, and an 18th place provisional qualifying effort, Wirth can be pleased to have led morning practice if only for a few fleeting moments. Discussing the events of the day, Wirth remarked, "We struggled with our set up today. We had too much under-steer in our first practice session, and unfortunately the changes we made didn't affect the car the way we had planned. We didn't run well today, but we'll try to sort things out for tomorrow." By Saturday, the team seemed to have put their troubles behind them as Wirth consistently bettered his lap times, climbing to twelfth fastest in the final practice session as he clocked his fastest time of the weekend at 1: 28.540 - just a little over two seconds behind the leader. Alas, the final round of qualifying didn't go as well, leaving Andreas to start in 18th place for the Champ Car season finale. Andreas explained, "We're still dealing with under-steer issues and couple of other little problems, but we'll work through it. It's my first time here, and it's a long, tough track to learn, but I was definitely hoping for a better result today." A rain dampened track greeted the drivers in Mexico City on race morning, providing a new experience for Andreas to embrace. Not wanting to jeopardize his second start in Champ Car, Wirth cautiously turned a few laps in morning warm-up, adding to his repertoire of racing knowledge and experience. By the time the cars took to the grid, sunshine filled the skies for the fourteenth and final round of 2006 Champ Car World Series competition. While the race itself was generally uneventful, it began with a bang as four cars made contact before ever crossing the start/finish line, bringing out what would be the only yellow flag of the event.
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