The IndyCar Series will test during the 2007 pre-season at Daytona and Homestead, breaking with the tradition of heading to Phoenix for some winter sun.

The series will be testing at Daytona for the first time, following a successful 'evaluation' run at the end of the 2006 race season, while the seventh pre-season visit to Homestead will include testing under the lights for the first time.

"Expanding our pre-season testing schedule to include Daytona International Speedway is good for both fans and teams," explained IRL vice-president of development John Lewis, "The feedback coming out of the test from our drivers and teams, Firestone, Honda and Ethanol was very positive and supportive of the IndyCar Series pursuing Daytona as a test venue."

Sam Hornish Jr, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon and Vitor Meira ran at Daytona earlier this year in order to allow Series officials to determine the possibility of DIS serving as a testing venue, running on the venue's 2.73-mile road course, which included ten turns and the tri-oval section. The September test also was the first time IndyCar Series cars used the 100 per cent fuel-grade ethanol that will power the field in 2007, with the pre-season test at Daytona marking the first time that all cars will run with the new fuel mixture.

"We are very excited to be able to host pre-season testing for the IndyCar Series here at Daytona," said circuit president Robin Braig, "Bringing another motorsports sanctioning body to Daytona further solidifies us as the 'world centre of racing', and we look forward to welcoming the stars and fans of the IndyCar Series."

The Series will continue to test at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but with a new wrinkle after an afternoon/evening session was included on the 1.5-mile oval to give IndyCar and Indy Pro Series a chance to run under the lights. Teams from both series will test on both the oval and road course at Homestead.

"Enhancing the Homestead-Miami Speedway experience to include testing under the lights makes perfect sense as we become the only open-wheel series to open its season in prime time," Lewis added, "The IndyCar Series was the first series of its kind to race at night at Texas, and now we are advancing that to include the season opener."

The complete in-season Open Test schedule will be announced in the future.