At 27 years-old, Max Papis has already achieved many accomplishments in racing including a Formula One ride in 1995, and runner-up in the IMSA World SportsCar Championship last year.

Now he takes on an entirely different motorsports discipline, oval track racing. With several days of testing on the Milwaukee Mile speedway and the 1.517-mile Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex oval under his belt, Papis is ready for his first oval race in the Grand Prix of Miami, presented by Toyota, February 28 — March 2.

"Florida is where my United States racing career started and I have many special memories from there," said Max Papis, who drives the No. 25 MCI Racing Reynard powered by Toyota. "I hope to bring the same emotion that I gave to the fans at Daytona in 1996 to the fans at the Miami Grand Prix in 1997."

Last year, in his American racing debut, Max Papis and MOMO Team Ferrari finished second in the 24 Hours of Daytona in Daytona Beach, Fla. Now, Papis drives full time for the Arciero-Wells/MCI Racing team in the PPG CART World Series.

Papis and the team were testing earlier this week in preparation for the 1997 PPG Cup season. Under the direction of technical director Gordon Coppuck, Max Papis participated in the Laguna Seca Raceway test on February 15 and 16, as well as an added test day at Buttonwillow Raceway Park near Bakersfield, Calif.

At Laguna Seca, Papis turned in a limited number of laps in a shakedown test of the new RV8B engine. The following day at Buttonwillow, the Arciero-Wells/MCI Racing team logged over 250 miles in the MCI Toyota with Papis at the wheel.

"At Buttonwillow, we ran over 250 miles with no problems," said Papis. "I was very pleased because it was our first real test with the new RV8B Toyota engine. I think we are a little behind where we want to be, going into the first race of the season, but we are focusing our efforts on April when we expect to see a true improvement in our performance."