Franchitti struggles in opening testposted in INDY16 | 03 | 2011

SCOT DARIO FRANCHITTI admitted he needs to go 'back to the drawing board' after struggling for pace in the opening pre-season IndyCar test at the 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports road course in Alabama.

The Bathgate racer — already with three IndyCar championships and two Indy500 wins under his belts — is once again one of the favourites to lift the 2011 title. But while his Target Ganassi team-mate, Kiwi Scott Dixon, finished the day second fastest, just 0.0482s behind the Penske of Aussie Will Power, Franchitti was a disappointing 12th.

"I think we struggled from the moment we got here," he admitted. "Scott has been fine and we need to work on our set-up. It's up to myself and the engineers on the Target team to get this figured out. We'll go back to the drawing board."

So tight are the margins in IndyCar that Franchitti, despite being 12th-fastest, was only 0.6468s slower than Power. Dixon meanwhile was happy with his progress.

"Team Target had a good couple of days with lots of big and good changes," he said. "We're just going through the motions and making necessary adjustments before we start the season in St Pete."

The 17-race season gets underway at the 1.8-mile street course in St Petersburg, Florida, on March 27.

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Jim McGill