Castroneves expects tougher 2007

The 2006 Indycar season was dominated by Penske and Ganassi, who won all but two of the 14 rounds and swept the top four championship positions. Penske's Sam Hornish Jr. won both the Indianapolis 500 and the IRL title.

But Castroneves believes that other teams have closed the gap during the winter.

"We had a strong campaign in 2006, but I think that the competition will be much tougher this year," he said.

"I think a lot of teams got a wake-up call last season and they've worked hard over the past few months to make sure they are where they need to be."

While former champions Andretti-Green Racing are determined to get back on terms with Penske and Ganassi this season, smaller outfits like Foyt and Dreyer & Reinbold have also boosted their technical packages in an effort to gain ground on the leaders.

"I'd like to see us be a top 10 car every week," said Larry Foyt, who has become team manager at his grandfather's squad.

"I know that's hard to do, but when you can do that, then you can start looking at top fives and after that you're in position to win races.

"I know it won't be overnight that we're going to be winning races, but we're doing the things we need to do and be competitive."

Dreyer & Reinbold's new driver Buddy Rice said: "I think we can run inside the top 10 solidly week in and week out. If we work on it a little bit and get everything up to snuff like what these guys think they can do, we might not be too far back from the four red cars."