Scuadra Fortia tests at Buttonwillow.

Allen Berg and his Scuadra Fortia team have concluded the first part of a test session at the 1.3mile Buttonwillow circuit in California, in preparation for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, round two of the CART Toyota Atlantic Series.

The final day's work was carried out by Mexican driver Eduardo Figueroa, who shouldered the load when his team-mate was struck down by an unusual medical problem.

"This Wednesday, I couldn't run because of a complication in a root canal and I had to go in emergency treatment," admitted fellow Mexican Waldemar Coronas, "The team decided that I should rest but, on Friday, I will resume my driving duties."

Figueroa did not appear to be bowed by the extra work, however, and emerged from the session with increased confidence as the team attempts to register a top finish on the streets of Long Beach.

"Today was a very positive day," Figueroa reported, "We have been working all day long with the data acquisition system EFI and with my driving coach, a former CART driver. He is helping me with my driving techniques, which have been very much improved, mainly in details that I needed to work on.

"I ran about 85 laps and my best lap-time was 59.4secs. The most important thing, however, is that I was able to run knowing more and more about the car. We are on the right direction and the crew is very optimistic. I have three Mexican mechanics who worked with me in the Mexican F3 Series and they have been able to get used very quickly to the way our engineer Stefan Dwornik works.

"I will test again this Friday, and also on Monday of the Long Beach race week, as we had already planned to test at San Luis Potosi, in Mexico, with an Indy Lights car. My team owner Allen Berg and my team mate Waldemar Coronas will be there to support me."

Former F1 and CART racer Berg, owner of Scuadra Fortia, put Figueroa through his paces with a varied programme of testing.

"For this session, Eduardo enjoyed full attention of the team, since Waldemar did not run," he confirmed, "We worked on pit-stops and having at hand a consultant for the cars and drivers, who is an experienced driver, the session was even more productive.

"Eduardo worked on the development of the Swift 0.14a and on driving techniques such as braking with his left foot. We also had the support of four technicians from EFI to make sure that we don't have problems with the data acquisition system. In the CART Series, Fernandez Racing and Target/Ganassi Racing also use this system. We feel confident that we won't have problems in the future with the EFI system."

Prior to his enforced exit, Coronas had worked through a series of set-up routines designed to find the optimum settings for both the next and future rounds of the Atlantic series.

"This was a productive session - I ran 110 laps and my best time was 58.81secs," he said after Tuesday's run-out, "We made many changes to the car, working on different [ride] heights, tyre pressures and cambers. On Friday, we are going to use the information acquired this Tuesday and Wednesday to get a good balance, in preparation for the race at Long Beach."

By contrast, Figueroa endured a less successful outing, as electronic problems thwarted his day.

"Today [Tuesday], we did not have enough track-time due to problems with the acquisition system EFI," he sighed, "However, in the afternoon I was able to run a little bit to develop my driving style with the help of former CART driver Alex Barron. Also, he is helping me to set up my car and we've got some valuable information regarding the behaviour of the car. We will resume our three-day testing session this Wednesday and, while we won't test on Thursday, we will continue on Friday."