The IRL Menards Infiniti Pro Series opens its fourth season at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend [6 March], with the starting grid for the first of a series-high 14 races featuring two former race winners, eight rookies and the first woman to compete in the series.

Jeff Simmons and PJ Chesson, who have combined for five victories, hope a strong start at Homestead-Miami translates into a run for the series championship.

"This is certainly the best chance I've had so far to try to get multiple wins and try to run for the championship," said Simmons, who will drive the #24 Team ISI Dallara, "We expect to be competitive right off the bat and, obviously, we're looking for a championship. We're not here to run second. We want to win races and win a championship."

Simmons' two wins came in 2003, while Chesson earned three consecutive victories for Mo Nunn Racing last season, before switching to Genoa Racing for 2005.

"I've never been to Homestead-Miami Speedway before, but I think I'll be able to adapt pretty quickly," said the former dirt track racer, "We had good results last year in our first visits to a lot of tracks."

Sam Schmidt Motorsports will field four of the eight rookies entered for the Homestead-Miami 100 as it begins defence of its championship. Jaime Camara, Chris Festa, Travis Gregg and Scott Mayer aim to pick up where 2004 champion Thiago Medeiros left off. The Brazilian won six of the twelve races staged in 2004, eventually taking the championship by a 134-point margin.

"I think the series is going to be really tough this year," said 19-year old Festa, who has been racing open-wheel cars for two years, "You've got a third-year veteran with Jeff Simmons, and the other guys on this team are really good as well, and you've got some other drivers coming into the series that are pretty talented, so it's going to be a tough year for us. But the Schmidt team has won the championship and, fortunately, I'm in one of their cars, so that makes things a little easier. But I'm going to have to work hard. It's definitely a realistic view for us. If not me, then the other guys on this team as well."

Gregg, 26, competed in three races last season for the Schmidt team, capturing a pole position and earning two top-five finishes, but retains his rookie status. Joining him in the 'newcomers' class are World Karting Association champion Nick Bussell, 2003 world karting champion Wade Cunningham from New Zealand, USAC sprint veteran Jay Drake who, at 35, will be the oldest regular in the series, and Mishael Abbott, a karting and Formula Mazda veteran who will become the first woman to compete in the Menards Infiniti Pro Series.

"Being the first woman to compete in the series means the world to me," Abbott said, "I've always been proud of my accomplishments, being the first female to win a professional shifter kart race in the United States, being the first to test the Infiniti Pro Series car at Las Vegas two years ago, and now the first woman to actually compete in the series fulfils one of my life-long goals.

"I've driven the Homestead-Miami road course more times than I can remember and now to compete on the oval fulfils a lifetime dream, especially in my own back yard. I can't wait for the race to start."

Abbott will drive the #91 Hemelgarn 91 Johnson Motorsports entry vacated by last season's series runner-up Paul Dana.

The Pro Series will follow Homestead with stops at Phoenix, St Petersburg, Indianapolis, Texas, Nashville, Milwaukee, Kentucky, Pikes Peak, Infineon Raceway, Chicagoland, Watkins Glen and California.