Wheldon gets ready for Long Beach

Wheldon gets ready for Long Beach. After a couple of weeks off since competing in the season opening Monterrey Grand Prix in Mexico on March 11th where he finished an impressive fifth despite starting tenth, England's Dan Wheldon and the PacWest Indy Lights team jumped back into action earlier this week with a two-day test on the road course of Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Arizona.

CART Dayton Indy Lights rookie Wheldon tested on the 1.2-mile road course on Monday and Tuesday in preparation for this weekend's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in California -- round two of the prestigious single-seater series which is the last step towards Dan's goal of a drive in the CART FedEx Champ Car series.

The 22-year old Gemstar - sponsored PacWest driver came away from the test thrilled with his performance and prospects heading into Long Beach. He set a fastest time of 52.29 seconds before branching off and running a different downforce package, where he remained one of the quicker competitors on the circuit. Of the three other teams participating in the test, the two PacWest cars topped the time sheets on both days.

Dan Wheldon commented afterwards: 'I had a very good, productive test in Arizona. We worked on a couple of different set-up configurations to prepare for Long Beach, and my car was excellent on both days. I'm confident that we'll be in good shape for Long Beach. The track really suits my driving style and I look forward to putting on a good show for all the fans.'

-danwheldon.com