Junqueira hoping for strong return

The Brazilian missed the majority of last season after a crash in last May's Indianapolis 500, which broke his back and forced him to sit on the sidelines for seven months.

After a winter of extensive testing, Junqueira is now ready to return to racing. Although he is not putting any pressure on himself in the build-up to this weekend's season opener, he is still hopeful that the strength of his Newman/Haas squad will mean he will score highly this weekend.

"I feel pretty good," he said. "I'm up to it again. I've been doing some long runs, particularly last week in Fontana.

"I'm racing at a really good pace, but I'm not expecting any results from Long Beach yet. It's too early to say, but I'm expecting to give it my best and enjoy the race.

"I'm sure that I can give my best, as I did for the last year, and I'll get a good result in Long Beach.

"I like Long Beach a lot. In the last three years I've been on the podium, and the race is the season opener and expected to have a good crowd. I'm sure that's going to be a very exciting race, going to be very close.

"I hope they can put the Newman/Haas car up front and can do it very nice. For sure they are a very special team. For my 19 years racing it's the best team I've ever raced with."