David Martinez will replace David Garza temporaily due to an injury

Martinez will take part in an official series test day today at the picturesque Road America track, in preparation for rounds seven and eight of the championship which will take place this weekend (August 9th and 10th) at the same track.

Martinez and Garza have worked together closely for many years, with Martinez coaching Garza at the track, and by training together at the gym and at the karting track in their hometown of Monterrey, Mexico. This will be the second time that the young Mexican drivers share the driving duties in the same race car, the first time being at the Mexican A1GP race in March where Martinez competed in the rookie sessions and Garza took over for the remainder of the weekend.

Martinez returns to the Atlantic Championship after finishing fifth in both the 2005 and 2006 seasons scoring seven podium finishes and two pole positions. Over the last two years Martinez has developed a strong relationship with the Forsythe-Pettit team both on and off the track. The Monterrey native has made all four of his Champ Car starts with the team, finishing in the top-10 three times as a rookie and scoring a career best finish of eight at the series finale in Long Beach.

"I want to wish David (Garza) a full and quick recovery, he has always been like a brother to me and I know the frustration that he is going thru by not being able to drive, especially after the great performance he had in Edmonton last week. This year he has proven that he is ready to fight for wins and as his coach I know that as soon as he comes back the results will show how committed and talented he is.

I’m very honored to be able to drive his car and to once again be a part of the Forsythe/Pettit Team, I will do everything possible to give David and the team a great result. It has been a couple of years since I drove one of these cars, since then I have been behind the wheel of cars with a lot more power and more downforce which require a completely different driving style, but today we have a full test day and I’m sure that by the time practice comes around on Friday we will be able to be at the top of the charts.

Road America is one of my favorite tracks, it has all kinds of different corners and with this type of cars we will put on a great show for the fans. Today I’m just going to concentrate in getting used to driving these cars again and tomorrow I will have a lot of time to sit down with the engineers and look over the data so we can be ready to go for qualifying on Friday.

For more information please visit www.davidmtz.com.

- Toni Calderon -