Tracy claims fastest winter lap at Sebring

On Tuesday afternoon, the Canadian's Team Kool Green Reynard-Honda lapped the 1.7-mile circuit in 50.22s, eclipsing the time of 50.4s set by Helio Castroneves (Team Penske Reynard-Honda) in early February and the 50.5s laps posted by Tony Kanaan (Mo Nunn Reynard-Honda) and Michael Andretti (Team Motorola Green Reynard-Honda).

"I'm on pole for the Sebring Grand Prix!" quipped Tracy. "We just kept making the car better and better both days. We ran a 50.9s on Tuesday afternoon, came in, made a couple of small changes, then went out and did a 50.6s. I came in, put on a set of new tyres and put a real good lap together to do the 50.2s. I feel like we have a great road course set-up and I can't wait to get the season started. I'm ready."

Tracy used a new shock absorber package which 'technical partner' Michael Andretti recommended after posting a 50.5s lap with his Motorola-backed machine earlier in the afternoon on the notoriously bumpy 1.7-mile circuit.

Dario Franchitti concluded his road course test program at Sebring, completing over 120 miles and turning a best lap of 50.8s on Monday. The Scot hopes, just like Tracy did, to benefit from the information crossover between the three-car Team Green set-up for 2001.

"I would have liked to run a little more because we are still learning about the car," he said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to combine some of the things Paul and Michael learned on Tuesday to what we've learned and translate that into success during the season."

Franchitti's chief engineer Iain Watt said: "We ran faster than we did the last time we were here, but we need to continue to fine tune the car so we can be as quick as possible at the season-opening race in Mexico."

The Team KOOL Green cars will now test independently, with Tracy running on the Homestead-Miami Speedway road course and Franchitti doing likewise at Texas Motor Speedway, which is new on the Champ Car calendar this season, for a two-day test session on February 23-24.