Manning impressed by Foyt's team

The 31-year-old is returning to the IndyCar Series for this year after sitting out 2006, and he is impressed with the small team.

"I didn't really know what to expect, but I was quite impressed," said Manning. "I knew they were doing everything right."

Manning has been involved with big teams such as British American Racing in Formula One and Chip Ganassi Racing in America, but he admitted that he enjoyed working with a smaller outfit.

"Having raced with big teams, the massive organisations, to get back to a proper race team effectively, is quite good and exciting," he added.

"There's not the massive infrastructure of management and decision making, there's one guy. AJ (Foyt) makes all the decisions.

"You want something done, you go straight to him instead of through several different management levels. You can get stuff done pretty quickly, and it's nice."

After the two-day test at Daytona this week, Manning also believes that the one-car team can genuinely contend for victories during the season.

"We're going to be going for some race wins out there this year," he said. "AJ knows how to put a racecar under a driver, and he understands what I want.

"Already we're communicating really well and making changes going forward. That's a testament to how he works with a driver, and his understanding of a driver and the race car."