Turbo Tour to the Beach.

Once again, it seems ages since I last wrote to you, but it's been crazy busy ever since I was confirmed as one of the PKV drivers for this year's Champ Car World Series. I have to admit that it's been great though.

The main focus of attention has been the 'Turbo Tour', which was a lot of fun, as we got to fly around the country in Kevin Kalkhoven's Gulfstream and promote Champ Car for a week. I think we visited twelve cities in five days - it was absolutely manic, crazy, but it was a good craic. You got to know a lot of the drivers you'll be racing against, which was fun.

I don't know who came up with the Turbo Tour concept, but 'bravo' to them. Basically, we went to every city in North America that we're racing in this year, Canada and Mexico included, doing half a day in each promoting the series. We'd do some media activities wherever we were, although exactly what really depended where we were. But we went to a rodeo, did some go-karting, played slot cars, so many different things, as every city had something planned for us. All the media were there, and there were at least six drivers, maybe three of which did the whole thing, me included. We brought Mario Dominguez in for Mexico, and Alex Tagliani in for Canada and that sort of thing and, like I said, it was really good, and great for camaraderie.

I had a whale of a time, but it took me a few days to recover once I got back! We must have lived on four hours' sleep and peanut M&Ms for a week! I can look back on it now and smile - and we've got out-takes as we were followed around by a film crew. We had a lot of laughs, but I think that was the only way we could have got through it, being in each others' personal space for so many hours a day and being so busy. It was an experience, that's for sure!

Of course, Turbo Tour aside, we've been doing as much testing as we're allowed, although, obviously, the rules kind of limit that a little bit. We've been out six times now, I think, with the Fontana test, which was a Champ Car-regulated test, then two sessions at Sebring and another at Kershaw. So we've been doing as much as we can. Obviously, we've got Long Beach coming up now but, right after that, we fly to Portland and do two days testing there. That's a Champ Car-regulated test but, after that, I'll do Milwaukee on my own.

I'm using my allocated days to do Milwaukee because I've never done an oval before, and it's a bit of a daunting prospect to think that, the first time I hit an oval, it will be in a Champ Car! We're going to go and run around there by ourselves, then we'll have the official test there and then the race so, by then, I hope I'll be up to speed and feeling comfortable.

Obviously, Oriol and Jimmy have been invaluable. They've both been a big help, the best team-mates I could wish for. I'm very happy - and very lucky - to have them, as they're both very experienced and very talented drivers - and they're helping me, which doesn't happen all the time with team-mates, trust me!

Milwaukee really is an unknown quantity because we didn't do one oval in the Atlantic series last year. I did do about ten laps around Texas Motor Speedway in an IPS car a couple of years ago, but that's my entire oval experience summed up in one sentence...

However, Paul Tracy said something to me on the Turbo Tour, something really poignant. He asked why I was worried about Milwaukee and, after I had explained about my lack of oval experience and the walls and so on, he suggested that, perhaps, I should be more worried about Road America. When I told him that I had driven there in the Atlantic cars, that it was a fantastic track and that I was used to doing road courses, he pointed out that Milwaukee only had two corners, whereas Road America had something like 16! I thought that that was a good point and, if I think about it as only two corners, I'll be fine, I'm sure.

Obviously, as well as testing and touring, I've been doing a lot of gym work, as you can't eliminate that from anything that's going on. I should be fit and strong for Long Beach, which is now only just around the corner and coming up extremely fast.

It's going to be great going back to 'the Beach', especially after last year. The atmosphere, as at all the street races, is just incredible, awesome. The fans really make the races, and it's a festival of speed - that's what we're promoting it as, and it is really what it is. We have the celebrity race, the concerts, the whole shebang going on - and that adds to the fun for us drivers as well.

I'm looking forward to going back there, although I'm hoping people aren't expecting me to emulate what I did last year. To be honest, I don't know what my expectations are. Everybody's telling me to be happy if I finish the race but, obviously, I want to finish in the top ten, and finish on the lead lap. Of course, the first thing is just to finish, but I want to be the highest rookie, etc. Maybe I'm putting a lot of undue expectation on myself, but I'm just going to feel my way into it gently. The most important thing, as everybody keeps reminding me, is that old racing saying - to finish first, first you have to finish. I want to build on that. Every time I go out, I want to keep on improving - as long as I do better in Houston than I do in Long Beach, then better in Mexico than in Houston and so on, I'll be happy, the team will be happy, and we'll be moving forward.

I have my favourite circuits from last year, but I'm also looking forward to discovering new ones in 2006. I've heard so many great things about Surfers' Paradise, but I'm also looking forward to Milwaukee, because its a challenge. I love Denver as a city, and then there's the return to Edmonton - where I won last year - and San Jose. I guess I try not to have favourite tracks because you try and focus on each one the same and, that way, you don't think you'll do better or worse at any of them.

Of course, the street races have a different ambiance about them. Everyone is downtown, on the city streets, it's a big party atmosphere, a big festival - there's just a different buzz about it. I love doing street courses, something that was new to me coming to America last year. But I also love doing road courses because they're what I grew up doing. Road America is fantastic - I refer to it as America's version of Spa-Francorchamps - but I like the variety, the fact that Champ Car is one of the few series that combines the road courses, the street courses and the ovals. It's really important to me to get that test of yourself in every environment.

We also did Cleveland last year, and my overriding memory is that it was hot - something like 100 degrees and 100 per cent humidity! It was my 'home' race last year, as
Polestar is based just outside of Cleveland, so that was an exciting one for me Burke Lakefront Airport is very fast, and very bumpy as you cross over from runway to runway, but it was a lot of fun - as was Edmonton which, of course, was our new addition to the calendar last year. I loved that track, but then I seem to like all of them. I don't think there is one that I dislike - I even liked going over the railroad at San Jose, which gave the track character. Everyone said it was a bad thing, but it brought a lot of attention to the series, so it cant be all bad!

Of course, at the moment, I don't think I've got a shot at beating the likes of Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais. They have far more experience than me - I've yet to do a pit-stop, let alone anything else - so I think they've got a bit of a headstart on me in that respect. However, I think highest rookie is attainable, although we've got some very talented rookies this year, people like Will Power and Antonio Pizzonia, so it's going to be tough. But that will be my first goal, and then we'll look to be beating some of the others later on.

Obviously, I hope that Oriol, Jimmy and I can develop the car so that we're in a position to be challenging those guys. We found a few things from the Fontana test and we're moving forward with it, but the guys who are setting the cars up are good experienced guys now. I think, by the end of the year, maybe we can be a surprise. That's our plan. Like I said, every time we go out, we want to get better, and you never know how big a step you're going to make. Obviously, the aim every driver has is to go out and win races, and that's the same for me, but I'm just more realistic about my learning curve getting there.

In 2007, when the new car comes out, all the teams will be on a level playing field, and I think it will be then that we get to show what we're made of as drivers, and the true cream of the crop rises. I think that's going to be an exciting time for me as well, because I'll have had a year's experience in Champ Car, a year's experience of developing the car so, when the new car comes out, it won't all be new to me again, which is the main reason why we decided to go to Champ Car this year.

I think Oriol getting the second seat at PKV was as much of a surprise to everyone in the team as it was to everyone outside. Obviously, Kevin, Dan and Jimmy sat down and made that decision - and I think it was a really good decision to make. Oriol was runner-up last season with Newman/Haas, he won races and, because of that, he's a really good guy to have on your team. Of course, we did tests with a lot of other people - Franck Montagny was also awesome, and Ryan Briscoe and Pantano and people like that - so there was a lot of talent, but I think Oriol was the all-around package that the team was looking for.

It's also great that Jimmy has decided to do Long Beach, and maybe a handful of others races, this year. He's such a character and it's a lot of fun racing with those guys. Jimmy's decision has also taken a lot of pressure off me for this weekend, that's for sure, because everyone will want to know what he's up to now. That's great, because I was worried about all the attention we would be getting. I hope that he does more than Long Beach, although I don't know what his plans are - I don't think Jimmy knows what his plans are yet to be honest! I think we'll get through this one, see how it goes and see if we can run three cars moving forward.

Anyway, I've got a 'plane to catch.

Speak to you soon,

Katherine