Team USA Pair Continue to Show Well in Tests

Oct 7, 1997
Silverstone, England – Preparations for Nations Cup VIII at Donington Park, England on October 18/19 continued today as Valvoline Team USA Scholarship winners Buddy Rice and Matt Sielsky completed another day of testing. The young Americans traveled this time to the Silverstone National circuit and gained valuable experience in both wet and dry conditions.

“The cars are fun to drive in the wet,” said 19-year-old Sielsky. “We had a real good day. Once again there were lots of red flags, mainly caused by three young Japanese drivers who are in [smaller] Vauxhall Junior cars and seem to be following us from track to track. And they keep on falling off the road! Aside from that, we had a good day. It was useful to get some time in the cars in the wet.”

When the circuit dried out after lunch, Sielsky emerged with a best lap in 57.71 seconds, just over two-tenths slower than highly rated Brazilian team member Wagner Ebrahim, who has won races this year and is expected to be one of Team USA’s main rivals in the Nations Cup. Rice, meanwhile, was suffering from a head cold but still posted respectable times in the low-58-second bracket.

“The boys did well,” said team manager John Village. “I was well pleased. There’s not much to choose between the two of them. They make a good team. Buddy was a bit quicker the first couple of times we tested but he wasn’t his usual bubbly self today. Matt looked good, and while he was a little bit slower than Ebrahim, I think that’s slightly misleading because Ebrahim ran new tires and Matt didn’t.”

“I’ve been fighting a cold for a couple of days now,” said Rice. “I thought I was getting a bit better today – until I put my helmet on. We still got a lot out of the test. I think we’ll be in good shape when we go back to Donington next week.”

The Team USA/John Village Automotive team now has completed four days of testing. Both drivers are slated to drive two more days next week at Donington prior to the self-styled “Olympics of Motor Racing” in which they will compete – in virtually identical cars – against two-driver teams representing at least 12 other nations. In 1996, Team USA gained the Silver Medal, placing second behind Germany, through the efforts of Jerry Nadeau and Tony Renna.

Photo: Matt Sielsky (left) and Buddy Rice