Dario Franchitti admits that he has much to be grateful for following his return to the
IndyCar Series from
NASCAR - not least the chance to get behind the wheel and re-acquaint himself with the open-wheel machines.
Although he agreed terms with Target Chip Ganassi Racing in enough time to be drafted in to fill Dan Wheldon's seat at last October's non-championship race in Surfers Paradise, the Scot accepts that it will take a little more time to get back up to the sort of speed that carried him to series and Indy 500 titles in 2007 - especially on the ovals.
''I think the [Homestead-Miami] test was hugely important,'' he conceded, ''I did, I would say, 70 or 80 laps last Tuesday night and I was starting to get comfortable by the end. But those first 20 laps, man, the things were coming at me fast.
''The last time I drove there was in the Nationwide car at the end of '07 and I don't know what the average speed was but, that Tuesday night, we were running average speeds of 210mph and it was all coming at me a bit quick! I had to just let the brain start to speed up again as it needs to. It feels good.''
Franchitti admitted that stepping into Wheldon's shoes alongside reigning champion Scott Dixon was more encouraging than intimidating.
''I think the good thing for me is that the Target cars are really quick as that helps me,''he reasoned, ''I know we don't have to work on the car so much for speed - I've just got to get myself back up to the level that I need to be at.
''I'm quite happy now that we've got some testing, but it's very limited. We have two days at Homestead, with all cars from the series, [and] we have two days at Barber
Motorsports Park on the road course - and that's it for pre-season testing. They're really tightening up the testing rules.
''There's not really any private testing -- I think each team gets a couple, three days or something and that is it. I think the guys over in
NASCAR had to do that and [the IRL] felt they had to do it. I hear the guys speaking on the various shows that they have felt that impact and it's saved them money but, right now, I'm glad we're getting a couple days running because I'm getting back up to speed.''
While he is excited to be returning to the IRL, and in a car clearly capable of winning races, Franchitti admits to some frustration at having to cut short his much-hyped switch to
NASCAR.
