By Andrew Charman

The teams of the Indy Racing League arrive in Michigan for this weekend's round 10 at the end of a punishing schedule of five races in six weeks. Next weekend is free, and they'll all be able to take a breather before returning to action in Kentucky on 15 August.

Before they can think about breaks, however, there are 200 laps of Michigan's high and very fast banked speedway to contend with, and who is going to emerge victorious has never been harder to predict – we have seen five different winners in the nine races held so far.

Looking at previous history does not help much either – the most consistent form man at this track has been Tomas Scheckter, pole position winner in the last two years, a third-placed finisher last year and scoring his first IRL win in Michigan's debut event back in 2002. But for 2004 Scheckter has switched to Panther Racing and with Chevrolet power has yet to reproduce his race-winning form. If it happens at Michigan many will be surprised but Scheckter remains upbeat. "This team was struggling last year, but Chevrolet stepped it up for them over here, and hopefully, they'll do it again for us this weekend,” he said before qualifying.

Last year's winner? That's Alex Barron. He's in the field this year, in the Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara-Chevrolet, and so far has done little to suggest he'll be in victory lane come Sunday. He reckons the aerodynamic and engine changes made in IRL this year in a bid to reduce speeds can really be felt at Michigan. “The overall speed here this year is anywhere from 7 to 11mph slower than last year, so it feels pretty different,” he said this week.

The potential victors are far more likely to come from one of two squads – Andretti-Green Racing, or Rahal-Letterman. The latter is the form squad of recent weeks – Indy 500 victor Buddy Rice has built his win in the series' blue riband event into a serious title challenge, but his only recently signed up team-mate Vitor Meira has been even more impressive, often outshining Rice on sheer speed but losing out in the luck stakes. Rice reckons the team's current form is making life easier at the track. “With our recent success, we can come off the trailer in an aggressive mode,” he said this week. “In the past, we had so many things to change on the car that you can't get it all together. That isn't the case with this team. It is just little things that can be adjusted now. We're in the thick of the championship. We're second in points and we need to score wins and points.”

For consistent form, however, look no further than Andretti-Green Racing. Dario Franchitti's win last week at Milwaukee means that of the four-car outfit only Bryan Herta is yet to see victory lane this season. Tony Kanaan looks the most likely champion, and his three wins have put him firmly in control at the top of the IRL series points, but Brit Dan Wheldon has matured very quickly in his second season of IRL and has two victories, along with a serious shot at the title. And now that Franchitti has got that first IRL win monkey off his back, who's to say he won't now make a late charge for title glory?

Kanaan reckons the race on Sunday is going to be pretty frantic, judging by the evidence of early practice at the speedway which saw much three-wide racing. “Either we do it today or we do it on Sunday,” he said after. “I guess we're learning how to take care of each other, I didn't see a bunch of crazy moves out there. I came in and looked at my boss' face, Kim Green, and he looked pretty scared after I ran three-wide for four laps with me, (Tomas) Scheckter and (Dan) Wheldon. But that's the way the race is going to be.”

Andretti-Green and Rahal-Letterman have shared eight of the nine races so far, the other taken by Sam Hornish Jr for Penske. It was the season-opener, way back in February and on his first outing for 'Captain' Roger Penske's squad, but the surprise of the season has been the struggles of the Marlboro-backed cars since. Recent races suggest they are back on form however, and neither Hornish or team-mate Helio Castroneves can be ignored this weekend.

Whoever eventually wins, action is guaranteed on the 2-mile speedway. Sunday's green flag flies at around 3pm Eastern Time, that's 8pm in the UK. Check back to crash.net for the full story.