Craig Pollock's team needs a little direction and nobody knows his way around Laguna Seca better than Bryan Herta.

Hence, a new partnership for this weekend's Champ Car race here. Herta will replace rookie Patrick LeMarie in PK Racing's Lola-Ford on a track he's pretty much owned his entire open-wheel career.

"Laguna Seca definitely suits my driving style," said Herta, who won back-to-back races in 1998 and 1999 besides a second and third during his seven career CART starts. "I tend to carry a lot of speed into the apex (of the corner) and that's always good at Laguna and Cleveland.

"A lot of people think I can just jump into any car at Laguna and be up front. But it's not that easy. It takes a good car and I usually have one."

The 33-year-old veteran from Valencia, Calif. will have engineer John Ward and chief mechanic Chris Schoefield in his corner for his initial Champ Car appearance of 2003.

"They have some good people (PK Racing) but I haven't been in a Lola since 1994 and I haven't been in a Champ Car for almost two years," he said. "The potential is there but whether we can unlock it in one weekend remains to be seen."

Herta, who has driven a NASCAR Winston West stocker, American LeMans sports car and Indy Racing League machine so far this season, wants to make CART his full-time gig again.

"I'm getting to be the king of the one-offs and I'm getting as good at making seats as I am at driving," chuckled the former Indy Lights champion who finished fifth in his IRL debut last Saturday night at Texas while subbing for the injured Dario Franchitti.

"They (PK Racing) keep saying they want to run a second car the rest of the year and that's what interests me.

"I want to see how it goes this weekend and take it from there."