Team Rahal brings potent package to Nazareth.

The power of the Ford-Cosworth XF engine was on display at Texas Motor Speedway last Saturday, as the manufacturer claimed the top-four spots on the grid - now it aims to do the same again this weekend.

Paced by Team Rahal's Kenny Brack, who captured the Texas pole with a lap of 233.447mph, the starting order for the Firestone Firehawk 600 was something of a Ford benefit. For Brack, it was a second pole position of 2001 and his third front row start - had the race been run. Instead, concerns over the safety of the drivers forced CART and race organisers to postpone the event, leaving Ford with nothing to show for its qualifying efforts.

After the first two months of the 2001 FedEx Championship Series, there is little doubt that the package assembled last winter by Team Rahal is formidable. Following the 2000 season, Bobby Rahal sensed a competitive advantage could be gained by switching from to the Lola chassis and teaming the B1/00 with the 2000 manufacturers' champion engine from Ford-Cosworth. The results have been better than expected.

"I really thought it would take us more time to come to grips with how the car responds in situations," said technical co-ordinator Ray Leto, "Credit the race engineers and the drivers, because they have done a tremendous job in learning the nuances of this car."

"When we made the switch, we felt that the Lola chassis had an advantage on the ovals," said Mark Johnson, Rahal's director of operations, "When we conducted our winter oval tests, everything we had assumed about the car bore out. It allowed us to reduce our oval test schedule and focus on the road courses, which directly benefited our efforts in the first two races."

"Ford-Cosworth has made significant strides with the engine," said Brack's team-mate behind the wheel, Max Papis, "The dedication of Ford to this engine programme is unmatched in racing. To think that this engine is only in its second season - and that it has already captured a manufacturers' championship - is quite an achievement. I have been part of a developmental programme before, and I can tell you that the dedication of Cosworth has accelerated the development of the XF engine."

As Kenny Brack begins his second tour of the CART tracks, Nazareth stands out as the track where he earned his first Champcar podium, in 2000.

"Coming back to the tracks a second time makes a big difference," said the 2000 CART Rookie of the Year, "Last season, I spent the better part of Friday just getting used to the track and trying to get a feel on how the car would respond in certain situations. This year, we pretty much are fine-tuning the car from the outset. That made a big difference in qualifying at Long Beach."

At the Californian street track, Brack claimed a front row start and second overall on the grid, compared with a seventh place start in 2000. Heading into Nazareth, the Swede is now looking to improve on his sixth place start there from 2000.

"Overtaking is difficult at Nazareth, so it is critical that we qualify well," he explained, "We have been successful in qualifying through the first several races and hopefully we can continue that trend here this weekend."

For team-mate Max Papis, this weekend is another chance to snap a streak of frustration on the one-mile oval in rural Pennsylvania. In the last two seasons, Papis has had a fast car, but has been frustrated by setbacks during the race.

"Nazareth is one of my favourite tracks," the Italian reveals, "I feel it is the most exciting short oval track that we race on. It is a real challenge for the driver, both mentally and physically. It is almost like driving on a road course, except you are turning left all the time and with really fast corners. It is one of the more demanding races for a driver because you are always in traffic.

"We have been successful on the short ovals, and the Miller Lite team knows what we must do to be successful on this kind of course. If we can avoid the nagging problems that have plagued us here in past we can have a very good weekend."