New look Rahal Atlantic team ready to roll.

Team Rahal will open its second full-season of Toyota Atlantic competition with this weekend's Grand Prix of Long Beach, and its new-look line-up is already gunning for what should be a closely-fought title.

The team's second season sees an expansion to a full-time two-car programme, having run the majority of the 2003 season with a single entry. Returning to spearhead the effort is rising star Danica Patrick, who will pilot the #24 Argent Mortgage Company Swift. Joining the 22-year old in the line-up is 18-year old rookie Chris Festa, who will pilot the #25 SpacePak/CareCentric car.

Team Rahal ran the first ten events of the 2003 season as a single car entry, before former series champion Jon Fogarty joined Patrick for the final two races, running in a car sponsored by Norwalk Furniture Company. The benefits of a two-car programme were underlined almost immediately and led team boss Bobby Rahal to look for a second driver for 2004.

"There was no question that the two-car programme is competitively the best way to go," Rahal admitted, "Track time is at such a premium for these kids that a second car can make all the difference in working through some difficulties and salvaging a weekend. Heading into the off-season, it was a priority for us to secure a second full-time entry."

That is where Festa came in.

"We wanted to expand the programme to a second car, but we didn't want to expand just to for the sake of expansion," Rahal continued, explaining his reasoning behind picking the rookie to partner Patrick, "The key for us was to find a young driver who was ready to make the step up to Atlantic and who would compliment the programme we had in place with Danica.

"I think we have found a young driver who met all of our criteria in Chris. Through my involvement in the Stars of Tomorrow [karting series], I have seen first hand his maturity and his talent. Chris is a very impressive youngster and I think he has a bright future ahead of him."

Patrick wasn't always a fan of a two-car programme, but she feels now that the second car will pay benefits for her efforts this season.

"I had some bad experiences in the past with multi-car teams," she admitted, "but things are different with Team Rahal. Here, the team comes first and there isn't a set agenda to benefit a specific driver.

"It is hard to dispute the benefits of the feedback the second car brought us last year. Certainly Jon's experience was a great asset for us, but just having someone else in Chris who has lugged the car around the track will help greatly in setting up the car."

Festa claims that, for now, he is just trying to acclimate to his surroundings and get ready for his first race at Long Beach.

"There is a lot of experience at Team Rahal and everyone has been a big help to me in getting ready for this first race," he said, "I know there are going to be ups and downs in the season, but I just want to focus on improving and make sure that we are taking advantage of the opportunities that present themselves."

Patrick will continue to work with Chris Yanchar as her race engineer. Yanchar came to the Team Rahal programme mid-way through the 2003 season after having begun the year as a member of the team's Champ Car squad. Yanchar engineered Patrick to a pair of top-five results in the season's final two races, including a season best second place finish at Miami.

In her rookie year in the series, Patrick finished sixth overall after posting a pair of podium results and eight top seven finishes. Based on her strong season finish, and the fact that she begins the 2004 season the second highest returning finisher from the 2003 championship, the American is increasingly being mentioned as an title contender.

"I think she has a tremendous shot at the championship," said Rahal, "The thing that has impressed me the most about Danica is her continual improvement over the course of last season. She is never content with where she is at professionally, she is always pushing to improve."

"I have set some high goals from myself this year," Patrick confirmed, "I don't like to get all caught up in talking about championships and point battles. I simply want to
focus on improving each week and becoming a better driver. If I am improving the results will take care of themselves and if you have the results then championships will
naturally follow."

New team-mate Festa will team with veteran Atlantic race engineer Walter Preston, who worked with Patrick for the majority of last season, but has more than just racing to focus on in 2004.

The teenager is one of eleven rookies in the field this season, but he is the only one likely to bring his homework to the race track. Festa is still a senior in high school and carries a 3.1 GPA into the new season. He has an aggressive college prep curriculum set out to prepare himself for college in the autumn, having already been accepted by five schools to pull a 'double major' in business and marketing.

"I have been fortunate that my teachers have been very understanding about my pursuit of my racing career," Festa admitted, "When I am home, I usually go into school an hour early and stay an hour late, working to stay ahead of my class. My teachers have been flexible with the assignments and tests which has been a big help."

One thing that can't be rescheduled, however, is the prom, which Festa will miss to race for Team Rahal at Long Beach this weekend....