Premat paces opening day in Houston.

Alex Premat posted the quickest time on day one of testing at MSR Houston as the Frenchman got behind the wheel of a Champ Car for the first time on Tuesday.

Premat, testing with the Mi-Jack Conquest team along with countryman Guillaume Moreau, was only due to complete a shakedown ahead of his anticipated day of testing on Wednesday but posted the quickest lap of the day on only his third lap as he quickly got to grips with his new stead.

"I really like Champ Car a lot, I watched every race this year and I intend on doing everything I can to be in the series this year," the GP2 front-runner said. "The car is a lot of fun. The acceleration was great, the stability of the car was very impressive and I am glad that I got to run some laps today so I can be ready for a full day tomorrow."

For Moreau, the test was also his first chance to turn laps in a Champ Car, putting in 65 laps around the 17-turn MSR Houston layout. The 23-year-old Frenchman spent the last five years in European open-wheel racing, including three seasons in Formula Renault, and was pleased with his first day in the more powerful Champ Car.

"It's a really big gap for me from a 200-horsepower F3 car to a Champ Car," he said. "It's a fantastic car. Inside the car, everything arrives fairly quickly and you have to be focused. This is a good team for me, they get the job done and still have fun. It's a different style than the European teams have. I would love to race here with them."

Alongside the pair of Champ Car hopefuls, two drivers already assured of their places on the grid for the 2007 season were out in action as Pacific Coast Motorsport pair Ryan Dalziel and Alex Figge continued testing with a pair of Rocketsports Lolas.

Both drivers carded their fastest times at the end of the day as they worked on acclimatising to Champ Cars while also fine-tuning the all-important communication with engineers Burke Harrison and Tim Lewis.

"We've done a good bit of testing already but you never really get over the shock of how ridiculously fast a Champ Car is," explained Dalziel. "We know we have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to get it done, so every bit of time we get in the car is valuable to the whole team."

Figge and Dalziel both have Atlantic race wins under their belts - with Dalziel having also competed in a one-off Champ Car race for Dale Coyne back in 2005 - and will hope to impress in the first season for the series with the new Panoz DP01 chassis.

While different to the Panoz they will use in 2007, Figge said that using the older model for testing will still be advantageous ahead of the team's Champ Car debut next season.

"The new cars will still be a Champ Car," he said. "People that haven't driven it may not understand it fully and Roberto Moreno [who did the test driving for the DP01] will tell you of some differences, but it's the same engine and it puts power down the same way. What is really comes down to is, 'Can you do it?' That's why were here. Is every little thing going to be the same? No. But any time in a Champ Car is important to us."

Forsythe Championship Racing was also present, with 16-year-old Richard Philippe testing components that they intend to use on the DP01 next season. It meant the team spent the day not worrying about who was driving the car, just what was happening to the pieces they were bolting onto it.

"Today is really more for the team than anything," team manager Phil Le Pan said. "We are testing a number of things that we hope we can use on the new car and we gathered a lot of data that can help us. Certainly there is a benefit to the young drivers that came out here and Richard did everything that we asked of him and did a great job all day, but in the end it was a good day for us because we got the work done we needed for the new car."

Philippe himself was pleased to get valuable time behind the wheel of a Champ Car at such a tender age.

"I am very pleased with how it went," he said. "I'm 16 years old and days like this are really a bonus for me and for my career.

"I was within a couple of tenths of Premat and with everything he has done in his career, he should be faster. But to be close at this stage is good for me. I am happy to come help the team out and I am even more pleased that they offered me the opportunity. It wasn't like I was pushing them for a test. The offered me the chance and I think I helped them and I helped myself."

Forsythe will test Andreas Wirth and former US F2000 driver Lawson Aschenbach on the second day of the test today [Wednesday].