Raphael “Rafa” Matos knew entering the 2007 Cooper Tires Presents the Champ Car Atlantic Championship powered by Mazda Series he had a strong combination to win races. The native of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, who now lives in Miami, knew he was returning to the No. 6 ProWorks/Sierra Sierra Enterprises Mazda that he raced to three pole positions, four podiums and one victory in 2006. He knew that Sierra Sierra had added renowned race engineer Lee Dykstra to work with he and driving coach David Empringham. The team also brought on Rafa’s friend and one of his strongest competitors, James Hinchcliffe as a teammate and Dave Bushmeyer as Hinchcliffe’s engineer.
With all the drivers and engineers working as one, they now had all the parts assembled to make Rafa one of the leading candidates for the 2007 Championship. However, even the confident but humble second-year Atlantics racer didn’t expect to sweep the first two races of the season. Now, entering the third race of the year, and the third street course, confidence is high that he could do a three-peat to open the year. Despite all the previous success, Rafa knows that the competition, and the hard concrete walls of the 1.7- mile, 10-turn JAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park in Houston, can take away a win in a blink of an eye.
“We won’t change our approach or anything just because we won the first two races, ” Rafa. “We just need to keep working and doing what we are doing. There is a lot of work left to do. We need to keep trying to make the car better. I need to feel a little bit better, a little more comfortable in the car. The only way to do that is to work with the engineers and crew and to work on myself as a driver. Our approach will stay the same until the end; trying to score points but taking the wins when they are there. The team’s hard work over the winter and pre-season testing is paying off and we want to keep the momentum going. “
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