NHLR made visible gains with its new Dallara-Honda combination throughout the 2008 season and, armed with a better understanding of Surfers than many of their rivals, Rahal figures he and his team-mate should provide strong competition for the rest of the field this weekend.

“Surfers will be the only street course we run on this season that we ran on last year in a Champ Car, but we should be able to adapt pretty quickly,” he reckoned, “We ran strong in the last street race in Detroit, so we are learning more and more about the Indy car.

"We were pretty quick last year, so I hope we can contend for a win this year. I think Justin will be very tough to beat, but I really enjoyed the circuit last year and, for rookies coming in that haven't been there before, it's a tough track. [Scott] Dixon and all of those guys have seen the place before though, so it's not going to be too different for them."

While the team is excited to get back to racing after a six-week break, they will do so with heavy hearts after the passing of co-owner Paul Newman in September, adding extra poignancy to any success that may come its way.

“It will be the first race without Paul, which is obviously going to be difficult,” Wilson admitted, “We all miss Paul and it will mean a lot for either myself or Graham to go out there and try and get a win for him. We'll just do our best and give it everything we can and try to come out on top.”