Successful oval baptism for Dixon...

The 20-year old Indy Lights champion shared a Toyota-powered Reynard with new team mate Mauricio Gugelmin over the course of the two-day test.

"I think it went relatively well," said Dixon. "I'm still learning a lot every time I strap myself into a Champ Car, and running on this oval for the first time ever provided me with an opportunity to learn a new track -which I enjoy. We worked on a lot of different set-ups and tested various components on the car during the day. I was battling some oversteer in turn two, but other than that, we were OK. My learning curve is right where I expected it would be, and the entire PacWest crew has been terrific to work with."

Dixon's thoughts were backed up by PacWest's Director of Race Operations, Russell Cameron.

"Scott really did a great job considering this was his first time ever at PIR," said Cameron. "His attitude is fantastic. Off the track, Scott is relatively quiet, but once he straps himself into the car, he puts his race-face on and he's really been giving us some great feedback on the handling of the car. He's obviously hungry to learn, and the fact that he is not overly excitable and keeps everything in perspective will be a plus for him this season."

Gugelmin said: "Scott is definitely going to keep me honest. We all saw his ability
last year in Indy Lights, and I haven't seen anything so far in working with him that suggests he is anything but championship material."

Another rookie to upset the applecart was Champ Car rookie Toranosuke Tagaki, who surprised series veterans by setting the fastest time in recent testing on the Firebird road course near Phoenix.

The 26-year old Formula Nippon champion reeled off a lap of 47.1 seconds in his Walker Racing Reynard-Toyota, edging Team Green's Paul Tracy by 0.3 second. It was Takagi's first run on the 1.25-mile road course.

The Japanese driver and the Walker team then put in two days at Phoenix International Raceway, where Tora got his first run on an oval. The former Arrows and Tyrrell F1 pilot was timed at 22.0secs on the first day and 21.4secs on the second. Max Papis was fastest overall at 20.6 secs.

"It was Tora's first time on an oval, but that wasn't a big deal for him at the end of the day," said team owner Derrick Walker. "He's already come a long way in a very short time and my first impression is that he's going to do just fine. He's also proved to be very smooth and quick in our road course testing."

Tracy, meanwhile, was clocked at 47.3secs, with similar times managed by PacWest's Gugelmin and Dixon.