Rookies get first look at The Glen
BY CHRIS GILL THE LEADER

WATKINS GLEN - Since February's announcement of the dissolution of the Champ Car World Series, and unification of American openwheel racing as the In yCar Series, there were two places the incoming teams looked forward to the most - Indianapolis and Watkins Glen. Two of the "transitional" drivers got their first look at Watkins Glen International on Wednesday, June 25, during a test session for the Firestone Indy Lights and incoming teams for the July 4-6 Camping World Grand Prix.

"Really looking forward to this track more than anything else because of the layout," said Will Power, the 27- year-old Australian who won at Long Beach earlier this season. "This track has a huge history. Winning Long Beach was special for that reason and it's the same here, this track has been around so long. That's another reason to win."

Power and KV Racing Technologies teammate Oriol Servia got a brief three-hour shakedown test before jetting off to Richmond, Virginia for this weekend's Sun Trust Indy Challenge.

Servia, a 10-year veteran of Champ Car racing - formerly CART - figured he'd race at The Glen someday.

"Here for some reason I could see myself racing, maybe not in open-wheel, but in any other series. I always thought I was going to come here," said the 33- year old Spaniard. "Indy, for sure, I had the fear of not having the opportunity to do it because it 's an IRL 100 percent an IndyCar race and I was in Champ Car - it 's just not going to happen. I was really happy that finally when it happened it gave me, a guy who came from Spain in '98 and been racing in the U.S. for many years and never got a chance to race at Indy. So finally, for me it meant a lot ."

Only two t ransitional teams made the trek north, while the others were either too busy repairing cars from last weekend's race at Iowa or still preparing for Richmond.

The rest of the paddock was full of Indy Lights (formerly Indy Pro Series) teams trying to get a grip around The Glen's 3.4-mile layout. For the drivers with experience here, like 2005 Corning 100 winner Jeff Simmons and 2006 winner Bobby Wilson, Wedn esday was spent dialing in proven setups.

"We've done a little bit of everything today - shocks, wing angles - just minor stuff," Wilson said.

Conversely, Simmons has raced here in Indy cars, Indy Lights and Barber Pro cars for the last 10 years.

"Obviously some people haven't been here before, but for me I've got confidence to be fast and I know I'm giving my engineers good information," said the Hartford, Conn. native. "Already I think we're fairly quick and I know we can go faster."

However, there were a lot of rookies at the test, too, who have spent countless laps going around in circles.

"We've been doing ovals for three months now so you almost forget to turn right," joked Lights rookie Ana Beatriz, a 23-year-old Brazilian who drives for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. "It looks just like the places in Europe - Spa Francorchamps - and it 's beautiful. It 's an amazing track, I love it."

The Indy Lights drivers will compete in the Corning Duels on July 5 - two 50- mile sprints separated by an In yCar qualifying session. The Corning Duels are one of four doubleheaders this season and the first since St. Petersburg, Fla. in April.

"That's a lot of points in one weekend, let alone one day, so it's going to be crucial to finish strong in both races," said J.R. Hildebrand, who ranks third in the standings, 40 behind series leader Dillon Battistini.

As for the July 6 feature race, The Glen offers more common footing between the IndyCar regulars and Champ Car converts. The CCWS was a series made up of almost exclusively road/street circuits. On the streets of St. Pete, Graham Rahal stunned the series by winning in only the second Indy Racing League start.

Power and Servia hope the same applies here.

"I'd be very disappointed not to finish in the top five, to be honest. We really need to get good points from these tracks," Power said.