Indy Lights round-up: Higgins returns…

The Irishman raced on a limited basis with the new team last season alongside its rookie driver Rudy Junco, who also returns in 2001. Higgins scored Mexpro's best results with seventh placed finishes at Mid-Ohio and Vancouver, and took his career-best qualifying effort of third at Houston.

Mid-Ohio marked Higgins' driving debut with Mexpro, the first of five race starts in the second half of the season, but he was also with the team as Junco's driving coach. Higgins led the series in race wins in 1999 after victories at Milwaukee, Cleveland and Detroit while driving for Team Mexico Quaker Herdez.

He also won at Milwaukee in 1998 with the Quaker Herdez group, the highlight of an impressive rookie campaign for both the team and driver that ended with a fifth-place finish in the championship, the highest result for a first-year team and driver. He will be the most experienced driver in this year's series.

Former F3000 racer Kristian Kolby has impressed his new team Conquest Racing in his first test since signing for the team at Button Willow Raceway last week.

The Dane was only a tenth off the quickest ever Indy Lights time set there, despite a gearbox failure. Team owner Eric Bachelaert said: "Since running [current CART star Cristiano] da Matta, I have never felt more confident about my team's championship chances as I do after those two days with Kristian."

Kolby himself said: "I am so pleased to work with a really professional team again. My engineer comes from IRL, and you can feel it. He just knows what to do. There is still more to come, so I am looking forward to the season."