Playing catch-up.

Firstly, BIG apologies for not having written for a long time. It's been a strange start to the year, even though we have been testing and racing almost since 2007 began, and there is quite a bit to catch up on.

It's been quiet the last six weeks or so since Houston, I've not done too much so I'm really looking forward to getting back in the race car. As you will all be aware, I've moved from PKV Racing to Dale Coyne Racing this year, and there has been a lot to get used to.

Now that I've driven it so much, it's hard to try and compare the new Panoz DP01 to the old Lola Champ Car, but it felt a little more stable on the rear end and, obviously, you don't have to take your hands off the wheel with the new paddleshift, which is good. It didn't take too much getting used to, as it felt quite natural, but it was still, all-round, a different car to get your head around.

The first test went really, really well. It was a new car for us, but the gremlins didn't start until a little later on, and the first test was relatively worry-free. It was a fun car to drive, a different experience. Eventually, we started to have some gearshift problems, and one thing led to another, but that is what pre-season testing is for for everybody - to get rid of any issues. Touch wood, we seem to have mostly done that now.

The new car seems to have opened things up too, although the top teams seem to be the same as they were last year, probably because of the amount of money they have to spend and the engineering staff that they have and so on. Dale Coyne Racing is a relatively low-budget team, but hopefully we can get some sponsors on board and change that around by doing more testing and development that will help us move up the grid.

The first couple of races were pretty good for me, the first race in Las Vegas in particular. Sixth place, just by staying out of trouble, was good and, again, in Long Beach, where we had really didn't have that good a car up until the race, we did alright. My engineers pulled something out of nowhere and we finished tenth - although that was actually a bit disappointing because we just couldn't pass people because of the nature of the track.

By contrast, Houston was a complete disaster for us - probably the worst race I have had in a long, long time. We were staying out of trouble and I think I was up to ninth in a car that, honestly, was quite difficult to keep off the walls. We found out what the issues were after the event, but we didn't know at the time, so the team was doing a great job keeping it together and we were looking just to finish the race. Unfortunately, that didn't happen because I had a coming together with Neel Jani, and that was really disappointing, as it took us out of seventh in the championship and dropped us out of the top ten.

But, looking forward, we have had this gap and the team has been testing on a rig and my team-mate, Bruno Junqueira, went a did a little local test to see if we could learn anything. Hopefully, we can start moving forward as we have a long run of races coming up.

Bruno's great, very similar to Oriol Servia who, last year, proved to be the best team-mate I have ever had. He was really helpful, very experienced and very talented, and Bruno's very similar in a lot of ways, although obviously I don't know him as well as I know Oriol. But, so far so good. He's from the same mould - very talented, very experienced and, most importantly, very helpful, so you can't really ask for any more.

The team has been great too. We're relatively light on mechanics and staff, but I have my crew chief, Damon, from PKV last year, which is a big help because it's nice to keep some continuity and he's obviously very good at his job. I'm still getting to know the new engineering staff, which is a challenge in itself, but Dale has been great. It's a very different environment to PKV, so we'll see how we get on.

It was very frustrating at the end of last season, as I didn't know where I was going, or what I was doing until right at the very last minute and, to this day, I still don't have anything signed and sealed for the rest of the year. I'm hoping to be in Portland with them, but it's still not certain. Hopefully, we'll find out in the next couple of days.

With testing restricted in the new era of Champ Car, DCR didn't go to Portland with the majority of the field the other week and, to be honest, I think we will suffer, but you have to think positively and, maybe, we've found something on the rig test. We seem to be doing things a little later than the other teams - Team Australia and PKV did their rig testing a little earlier on and now they're putting that to good use - so we're having to play catch-up a little bit. But I have every faith in the guys that we will do our very best. It's a learning process for everyone involved so, hopefully, we can play catch-up.

Personally, I still need to qualify better and, to do that, I have to set the car up better earlier on in the weekend. That's what my downfall is, and it obviously doesn't help our situation, so we need to find our way around that. But we do have the test miles left over and, if we can find the additional sponsorship or funding, then I would like to see the team use them because the more time people get in the car, the more of an advantage they will have over us, especially as I am, by far, still the one in Champ Car with the least experience in an open-wheel race car. So, for me as a driver, regardless of the team, I need those miles and it would be good to get them under my belt. But we'll see if missing the test is a disadvantage, or whether we can learn from anybody else. You just have to think positive, keep your fingers crossed and work as hard as can at it.

Part of the qualifying issue could be the same 'red tyre' problem that I had last year, but I don't really think so. At the last race of last year, and then again in Vegas, it was pretty good and I made an improvement on the red tyres just like everyone else did, which shows that I am getting to grips with it more. It's more that, if the car rolls out of the truck well set up, then we're on to a good thing. If it doesn't, it just takes me longer to work my way around it because I don't have the experience of setting the car up. It's just going to be a bonding experience between me and my engineer in trying to find that sweet spot, with me trying to explain what I need a little bit better.

Fortunately, I think Bruno is a little more similar to my driving style, so maybe I can learn a little bit from him. It's what I am working on most because, when it comes to the races, we are as competitive as anyone else. But, because we're not qualifying at the front, it's very difficult because, as I said, it hard to pass on these tracks that we're racing on.

It's been very disruptive not knowing, through this six-week break, whether or not I am going to be in the car for Portland. It's a big distraction the way everything works. With Kevin Kalkhoven giving me these opportunities and also having a management contract with me, it's very difficult to put any pressure on to find out what I am doing. I don't think it's my place because I'm very grateful for the chance to be here. So it's a complicated situation, but one that I am very lucky to be in. It's just been difficult trying to get everything sorted out, get everything confirmed, and I'm living a life of uncertainty. It's been the same since the end of last season and it's frustrating. Hopefully, though, it will all be over by this weekend and I can just focus on what I am supposed to be focusing on, which is being a race car driver.

With the Champ Car season not starting until April, and testing being limited to just three group outings in the months leading up to that, I was able to take the opportunity to do some other things I have wanted to do racing-wise.

The Daytona 24 Hours was a lot of fun to do. The team did it as a one-off event and I did it because I know Paul Dallenbach. Paul, Wally Dallenbach, George Robinson and myself raced the #84 Daytona Prototype, which was a completely different experience but, like I said, a lot of fun. The cars are a lot slower than the Champ Car because they're a lot heavier, but they're more 'chuckable'. Everything happens in slower motion, so you can get big slides in them and you get to overtake a lot of other cars, so you learn a lot from it. There are so many talented drivers that do that race, and it's one of those that I wanted to say that I had done. Now I want to say that I have won it, so it's definitely one that I want to do again.

Doing Daytona also opened my eyes to sportscars. I had thought about doing Sebring in the ALMS and, for sure, Le Mans is on the 'to do' list for my career. If I ever get the chance to do that in a competitive car, I will. Although I am focused on Champ Car at the moment, there are a lot of things I want to achieve in sportscars and you should never say never. There are a lot of races that I want to compete in - the Indy 500, Bathurst, the same list of races that are on any driver's list. I'm no different to anyone else.

I got to see a fair amount of the build-up to this year's Indy 500, although I didn't actually go to the track this time, even though it is almost on my doorstep. I went to the race last year and the year before and, you never know, maybe next year I'll be racing in it. Obviously, it's a bit strange with the two different series, but you hear rumours about Graham Rahal doing it and, as I've said, it's one of the races I want to do - and want to win.

Of course, there's a strong female element to the entire Indycar Series, but it was still something of a surprise to see three girls in the 500 this time. But I think it's great and, over here at least, it seems to be opening a few more doors. When you get to the top, however, it's still difficult and it's better to be competitive and female than not. If you're not competitive, you're seen as a gimmick, but, if you are, you are taken more seriously and it opens the way for more girls at the same time.

The whole Danica situation has helped me, and the other girl racers, enormously, and I think the 500 this year opened a lot of people's eyes to the fact that the girls are just the same as anyone else. Milka Duno had never driven anything like that before and was just trying to survive the race, but you get a lot of guy drivers doing just the same thing. Then you get Danica trying to win the race, and you get a lot of guy drivers trying to do the same thing so, hopefully, it's seen as a race car driver thing rather than a girl thing.

Obviously, being female is a unique selling point - a bit like Lewis Hamilton in F1. He's come in and he's different. The fact that he's become an overnight sensation is just fantastic. But that's basically what we're trying to achieve as well.

And good on Dario, huh? It was really nice to see because, for sure, he deserves it after all his hard work and effort and the races he has won in his career. Out of everybody, I'm really pleased that he won.

Hopefully, it won't be long before I talk to you again.

Katherine