On a cool March day in northeast Pennsylvania, where getting heat in the tires was difficult, Kenny Brack, Gil deFerran and Juan Montoya got in some last minute testing prior to the start of the season.  Max Papis, Jimmy Vasser, and Helio Castro-Neves were also on hand, but none of them got any track time today.  Montoya spent most of yesterday and a good part of today waiting for a part to be shipped in.  Yesterday he broke something in the drive train after only 9 laps.

The drivers were having a hard time with grip due to the cool temperatures and green track.  It was just too cold in the morning to run any serious laps, but by midday deFerran and Brack started to test the waters.  Each time they would run about ten laps, and then return to their pit.  It was definitely a one groove track today.

The Ganassi, Rahal, and Penske teams were all very secretive, keeping their cars under wraps at all times.  However, since this was a closed test, we thank the teams for letting the press into the track, even if only for a short while.  The Penske team asked that absolutely no pictures be taken of their cars after lunch, either in the pits or on the track.  They were experimenting with some new pieces we assume.  The teams each had their transporter parked on pit road (as is typical for testing) and the cars were under their canopy and away from prying eyes.

Lap times were not readily available.  The few laps we did our own timing saw the drivers in the low to mid 20 second range.