JANUARY 31, 2012

Barrichello impresses in Indycar test

Rubens Barrichello had his first day in an IndyCar on Sebring's road course yesterday and is now contemplating an involvement in the Izod series.

Rubens Barrichello had his first day in an IndyCar on Sebring's road course yesterday and is now contemplating an involvement in the Izod series.

The 39-year-old Brazilian is a long-term friend of KV Racing driver Tony Kanaan, who was instrumental in setting up the run.

Barrichello did 94 laps in KV's Dallara DW12 and said: "I had a really good and productive day with all the set-up options we tried. It's a different machine to what I'm used to, but it had a good feeling.

"I feel like a kid. You could call me a rookie, even though I have 33 years on this job! In the morning I was getting used to the car and not doing anything silly because obviously you don't want to put it in the wall.

"I like what I saw. I just need to see what comes up. I need to talk to my family and I need to talk to Jimmy (Vasser).

Kanaan, meanwhile, grinned: "The guy comes here for the first time and after 20 laps he's already running the same lap times as me! His knowledge and experience helped confirm some ideas that we had for this test, so it was very productive having Rubens around."

Team boss Vasser added: "We had a lot of fun working with Rubens. Most importantly, if he is going to have this kind of effect on Tony we are going to have to figure out a way to keep him around!"

The first race of the new IndyCar season takes place at St Petersburg, Florida, on March 25.