Della Penna Motorsports Completes First Oval Test ©2000 SpeedCenter Publishing Team "didn't set the world on fire," but learned a lot Della Penna Motorsports wrapped up its first oval test of the 2000 season at Phoenix International Raceway with Richie Hearn completing a little over 200 miles in his #10 Toyota-powered Reynard Champ Car. He circuited the one-mile oval at 20.6 seconds in his fastest lap of the two-day test. The Della Penna Motorsports machine ran trouble free on the second day of testing after engine difficulties limited Hearn to approximately 50 miles on Wednesday. "This was our first oval test with this package and while we didn't set the world on fire," Hearn said, "we learned quite a bit about the car. That's really why we test. We ran out time though since we sat out a while yesterday and didn't get to some things today that I think would have resulted in more speed for us." Team owner John Della Penna echoed Hearn's sentiments. "We were a little bit behind the eight-ball today, but I'm optimistic," Della Penna said. "I like to be the fastest car out there, but we were a day, day and half behind everyone else, so that's just not realistic. We gathered a lot of useful data though that (engineer) Diane (Holl) and (junior engineer) Brian (Ma) will take a look at tomorrow, and we'll go from there." As for many of the drivers testing this week at PIR, it marked Hearn's first time behind the wheel using the new short oval wing package. "I think this is much better for us," Hearn continued. "The new wing has a good balance. We have more grip and security, but it still tempers our speed. You still really have to work for it." Testing continues for Della Penna Motorsports on February 5th and 6th at Sebring International Raceway before the team joins the CART field for the fifth annual Spring Training event, February 8 - 10 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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