Perera showed speed with the expanded Conquest squad. (LAT photo) » More Photos

VIVE LA FRANCE II

Right on the gearboxes of Monatgny, Wilson and Rahal -- figuratively, at least -- came the Conquest Racing entry of Frank Perera which was fourth quickest on the day at 50.495sec.

“We are making a lot of adjustments to the car, overall we improved the car a lot, said Perera. “This morning I was close to the best (second fastest behind Rahal). We weren’t able to improve this afternoon, but that’s OK. I think we are doing good for the first test. The track is so grippy that sometimes it’s hard to know whether you are going fast because of the adjustments you make or because the track is getting to much rubber. But I think we are learning and that is what is important."

Underlining Perera’s form is the fact that teammate Simon Pagenaud had an altogether better Sunday than Saturday, posting eighth fastest time on the sheets (50.792sec).

“Simon had some problems with his car yesterday, so it was good to see him have a good day today,” said Perera. “Also because he had a season in Champ Car last year, he is a good barometer for me. We both need to be a little quicker, both at the front -- with me first of course!”

TEAM AUSTRALIA STILL MIA

Once again there was no sign of Team Australia at Sebring, leaving the car count at 14 on the day. Will Power, who won a pair of races last year and who is widely regarded as one of the favorites for the ‘08 title sounded nonplussed when we tracked him down by cell phone.

“We’re sorting a few things out,” he said, “and we’ll be at the next test for sure. We had the car on the shaker rig early this week and everything is going forward. It’s all good.”

Team co-owner Derrick Walker was similarly upbeat.

“I’ve got the same driver, the same car and the same crew we had last year, he said, tongue firmly in cheek. “Why do we need to go to Sebring and run up the mileage for two and half days? It’s not like we have a rookie driver to test. It’s not like we have a bunch of mechanics who’ve never worked on the Panoz before. It’s not like we’ve hired a whole bunch of engineers from other teams and we’ve got to sort through all their setups to see what works.”

Some cynics suggested that Walker was trying to send a message to Champ Car owners Gerald Forsythe, Paul Gentilozzi, Kevin Kalkhoven and Dan Pettit by not showing up; others suggested the message was not directed at Champ Car’s owners but at Walker’s partner in Team Australia, Craig Gore . . .

DOWN TIME

Paul Tracy finished the day in ninth place on the speed charts, but even further down the order on total laps run as the Forsythe/Pettit Racing team worked through a long -- and time-consuming -- list of changes.

“We’ve got people here who worked at several other teams last year,” he said. “We’re trying all their setups, plus our own from last year and seeing which one I think is the best platform. That’ll be good in the long run, but it’s a little frustrating now because I’m not getting a lot of laps because the changes take a long time. We stopped for lunch at noon and it’ll be a couple of hours before I go out again.“Like I said, I understand what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, but it’s a little frustrating ‘cause I want to be out there. Hopefully this will pay off down the line.”

Sebring Open Test – Sunday times:

1) Franck Montagny, #7 Forsythe/Pettit Racing, 50.209 seconds, 119.668 mph, 183 laps
2) Justin Wilson, #1 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 50.448 seconds, 119.101 mph, 200 laps
3) Graham Rahal, #2 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 50.474 seconds, 119.040 mph, 179 laps
4) Franck Perera, #24 Conquest Racing, 50.495 seconds, 118.990 mph, 150 laps
5) Oriol Servia, #22 PKV Racing, 50.505 seconds, 118.966 mph, 212 laps
6) Alex Taglianii, #21 PKV Racing, 50.594 seconds, 118.757 mph, 214 laps
7) Alex Figge, #29 Pacific Coast Motorsports, 50.707 seconds, 118.493 mph, 176 laps
8) Simon Pagenaud, #34 Conquest Racing, 50.792 seconds, 118.294 mph, 139 laps
9) Paul Tracy, #3 Forsythe/Pettit Racing, 50.892 seconds, 118.062 mph, 127 laps
10) Bruno Junqueira, #19 Dale Coyne Racing, 51.122 seconds, 117.531 mph, 171 laps
11) Ernesto Viso, #4 Minardi Team USA, 51.295 seconds, 117.134 mph, 143 laps
12) Enrique Bernoldi, #8 Rocketsports Racing, 51.313 seconds, 117.093 mph, 197 laps
13) Mario Moraes, #11 Dale Coyne Racing, 51.346 seconds, 117.018 mph, 180 laps
14) David Martinez, #28 Pacific Coast Motorsports, 51.432 seconds, 116.822 mph, 203 laps