Player's looks to winter testing

Team Player's drivers Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani finished 10th and 11th in the drivers' standings this year. Tagliani notched up three podium finishes and believes that extra winter testing will help the team to build on its consistency from this year.

"I feel the most positive thing about our season was that we were competitive on every type of circuit," said the Canadian. "Because of this consistency, we'll be able to concentrate on the little things in off-season testing, rather than having to work on simply finding the proper set-ups."

Carpentier, too is sure the team, which is continuing with its Reynard-Ford engine-chassis combination in 2002, will run at the front. He said: "I'm confident that we'll be able to pick up where we left off at the end of the 2001 season, when we were performing as well as any team in the series."

The testing programme is due to run over the next three months and the team will visit four different tracks including Laguna Seca and the Homestead oval.

According to CART rules, drivers are only allowed to complete 10 days of testing and only one driver will attend each test. However, both Carpentier and Tagliani will take part in a race-distance run during the final test at the Homestead road course at the end of February.