Bourdais completes first '06 test.

Double Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais got back behind the wheel of his #1 Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Ford race car for the first time in three months for a two day test at the 1.25-mile Firebird East race track on Thursday and Friday.

Bourdais was happy to officially end his off-season and begin preparation to attempt to be the first to earn a third consecutive open-wheel racing title since Ted Horn accomplished the feat almost 60 years ago from 1946-1948.

"It felt good to get back behind the wheel and dust off the cobwebs," said Bourdais, who shares a birth date, among other things, with former NHR driver Mario Andretti. "I have quite a few sore spots on my body and they are a little painful but it's a good pain. It was more like a wake-up test but we were surprised by how many interesting things we discovered to pursue with the race car."

The test began on Thursday but the team ran less than 50 miles therefore the day does not count against their total of three allowable test days per driver. Bourdais got back behind the wheel on Friday and completed 186 laps (232.5 miles) with a best lap time of 46.52secs.

"We came here to get both Sebastien and the McDonald's team reacclimated and the test was trouble-free," said Kenny Siwieck, assistant team manager of Newman/Haas Racing. "We went through a list of items to test and we also practiced hot pit stops. The favourable conditions on track and with the weather helped deem this test a success."

Newman-Haas Racing will resume testing in mid-March when both Sebastien Bourdais and Bruno Junqueira will test at Sebring International Raceway before concluding their pre-season testing on the road course at the California Speedway in Fontana on March 29th-30th.