Hornish admits he's up against it

Hornish achieved his best result of the 2003 pre-season testing when he set seventh fastest time at Homestead yesterday (Tuesday) in his Panther-run Dallara-Chevrolet, but has languished outside the top 10 in many tests. He is also disadvantaged by the fact he doesn't have a team-mate to help share the development of his car.

"We are sharing some information with the other Chevrolet teams, but it's mostly about engine work and not necessarily about car set-up," said Hornish. "It's going to take us a bit to get where we want to be. It's a challenge, and if it wasn't challenging, we'd probably go find something else to do.

"We got a little bit further ahead [at Homestead] than where we've been. We're just chipping away at it. The hard part about this season for us is that we've got a new car, along with a new engine. We know it's the same for everybody, but we're one of the only one-car teams, and that makes it really tough. We don't have double information. It will be a long season," he added.