CART kings take on IRL regulars at Phoenix

Lazier, 33, has already tested at Phoenix's one-mile oval this week, lapping in 20.9 seconds in preparation for the season opener there on March 18.

Lazier, who runs the same Dallara-Oldsmobile combination as Penske will, said: "At Phoenix last year [a race he won] we were running the Riley & Scott chassis, and we haven't had this car [the Dallara] on this racetrack, so we're a bit behind. But Wednesday's test was very productive."

Penske Racing will use the Phoenix test and race as a dress rehearsal for its bid to win the Indianapolis 500 on May 27. Last year's Indy 500 was won by then CART champions Ganassi Racing with Colombian ace Juan Pablo Montoya at the wheel.

Both of Penske's regular CART drivers, Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves, are scheduled to run at the Phoenix test, although de Ferran's participation is in question after he suffered heavy bruising in two testing crashes earlier this year, one of which happened at Phoenix.

Also scheduled to run in the Test in the West is Galles Racing's Al Unser Jnr, who won the Indy 500 for Penske, when it was part of the CART schedule, in 1994. He only finished ninth in the IRL points last year, but won the Las Vegas round, and is joined at Galles by IRL rookies Didier Andre and Casey Mears.

"It feels good to have a full season of driving IRL cars under my belt," said Little Al. "The team has made some changes this year with Didier and Casey coming on board. We feel that we're going to be in an ever better position to win more races this year."

As well as watching how Penske and the Indy Racing League regulars stack up against each other, all eyes will be on the stopwatch to see if the IRL machines can outdo their CART brethren. Lazier's 20.9secs from Wednesday matched Kenny Brack's fastest lap in last month's Champ Car test - this despite vastly different rules packages. De Ferran, before his crash, only clocked 21.2secs.

At least sixteen IRL cars are expected to take part in the Test in the West, which starts on Friday. Keep up to date with all the news from the test on Autosport.com.