Sebring Open Test up next for IRL teams

IndyCar Series teams switch their focus from the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway oval to the Sebring International Raceway road course March 3-6 to complete back-to-back Open Tests. (See home page for photos from this week's Homestead testing).

"We try to put everything into the car that we had studied over the winter that looks really good in the computer and in the simulations and see if it really works," Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan said. "It's the only two tracks and four days of testing we have before the season starts, so we're counting everything on this."

It will mark the first time the IndyCar Series has conducted an Open Test at Sebring. A modified circuit (11 turns, 1.7 miles) will be used. It also will be the first time all IndyCar Series drivers use the new paddle shift system on a road course.

"I look forward to seeing what the paddle shifting will be like at Sebring, where you've got your hair on fire and you're really driving aggressive as opposed to (Homestead-Miami) where you're really not shifting that much," Rahal Letterman Racing's Ryan Hunter-Reay said. "At Sebring, you can really dial yourself into the Sebring trap, and we've just got to be sure that we don't do that. We need to go about our changes, stick to our plan and get some feedback on the car and go to St. Pete. We know we can a get a good job done on road courses." IndyCar.com