Wheldon tops testing times

AGR's Wheldon clocked a 217.820mph run during the afternoon session. Cheever's team followed with second and third, thanks to drivers Alex Barron and Ed Carpenter, while AGR's Tony Kanaan clocked the fourth-fastest lap of the day.

Wheldon said: "We only completed 43 laps, and certainly the Klein Tools/Jim Beam car was very strong. The team did a fantastic job. It is a tough undertaking to put together four cars."

"We haven't done as much testing in the off season as some other teams, so to see Ed and I up at the front is a great feeling," said Barron. "We struggled a bit in the morning session, but we had a debriefing at lunch and were able to pull it together for the afternoon session. It's an incredible benefit to have a team-mate to compare data with."

Barron joined the team for the final three races of the 2003 season, then signed on for 2004 as it expanded to two cars and added Carpenter. While the results were impressive, owner Eddie Cheever was quick to points out that Wednesday's test was just that - a test.

"These test sessions are almost like walking across the desert with one gallon of water," Cheever said. "You want to make damn sure that all of the water goes from the canister to your mouth and not on the ground. Inevitably, you throw away hours at these tests. At the end of a test, to be able to run as many miles as we did as well as we did, that's a good job."