First look source: indycar.com / Dave Lewandowski Vitor Meira has invested hours at the Panther Racing shop since the dawn of the new year, questioning and being questioned by race engineers and shop personnel about everything save for the Beckham move to the U.S. Well, maybe that, too. It's all part of the off-season planning for the 17-race IndyCar Series season. Time on the front end, Meira surmises, will cut off time on the racetrack. Anything to assist the driver of the No. 4 Dallara/Honda/Firestone to grab his first IndyCar Series victory is welcome. The first Open Test of '07 - Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 -- is an example. It will be the first time all the 3.5-liter Honda engines will be stocked with 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol and the first official time the IndyCar Series cars will turn right and left on a modified road circuit at the historic Daytona International Speedway. "Where ever it is, there are always things to learn," said Meira, entering his second season with the two-time IndyCar Series championship team. "Anytime we can be at the track, whether it's a track we race on or not, it's a gain. There are things to test and gain more knowledge. Things you try during the year you can check and see if they are better or worse, so you have more knowledge for the year." IndyCar Series drivers also will test Feb. 21-22 on the Homestead-Miami Speedway oval, which will host the season opener March 24 (prime-time race). From a team standpoint, Target Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull will be looking for execution, communication and at the competition. His team's drivers, 2005 IndyCar Series champion Dan Wheldon and 2003 series title holder Scott Dixon, each won two races last season. But Wheldon came up one point short in the season-long championship race to Team Penske's Sam Hornish Jr. "Basically in testing, what we do is you've got to understand the tuning changes and the parameters that affect the car the greatest, and we can learn all of those things at Daytona," he said. "So testing is very important for us. As Vitor said, everybody works hard during the winter to try to improve their individual product. It's the first opportunity that you really have to come out and test with everybody that's represented in the IndyCar field.
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