SEBRING, Fla. -- The palm of Katherine Legge’s left hand bears the mark of 66 quick-paced laps in the No. 6 Lotus Dragon Racing car on the 1.67-mile, 11-turn Sebring International Raceway and an 18-month layoff from muscling any race car around a circuit.

The blister is a short-term reminder of Legge’s resolve to get back in an Indy car.

“It was really important that we got so many laps this afternoon, and that’s 110 percent due to the crew,” Legge said about the all-nighter and then some for the crew to install the Lotus engine that arrived late March 7. “It was like a team-building experience.

“On old tires we were competitive with other Lotus cars. On new tires, I kind of pushed too hard. It’s something that I have to learn. It’s the first 60-some laps in the car.
“It feels like home and where I belong. The team that Jay (Penske) has built this year is incredible, and it’s great to have Sebastien (Bourdais’) feedback as well.”

Bourdais will split time in the car with Legge on the second of two days of the Open Test for Group 2 (he'll drive in the morning session). Sixteen cars recorded 680 laps on the sunny, windswept first day.

Scott Dixon posted the quickest lap of 51.9674 seconds – about a half-second quicker than the time-topping lap of Helio Castroneves in Group 1 on March 5-6 – in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car.

"The car was good out the box, it was pretty quick," said Dixon, who finished third in the 2011 championship. "We just went through the test program and tried not to just go for lap time. We didn’t really have the lap time that we had in the afternoon that we had in the morning, so all and all it was pretty decent."

Teammate Dario Franchitti was quickest in the afternoon session (52.1401), and Rubens Barrichello was third on the time sheet with a best lap (of 59 total) of 52.2228 seconds.

"I'm still a boy playing with a toy, finding out what the toy is capable of giving you," said Barrichello, who was taking his first official laps as a member of KV Racing Technology. "It's good to be back on a track I've been to before (an initial test with KV Racing Technology in late January) because even times I'm on zero but now I'm on 20. I had some laps here, so my mind is open.

“When I get to St. Pete, everyone has some data collection in their head from where they are. I will start from zero. That is a little bit of playing catch-up. Some tracks are brand new, but they come to you. You don’t need to search. ‘Oh, I like this corner. I like this one as well’ and they all come to you. But some tracks, it is a little bit more difficult. So, I have to play the music as it comes.”

The Open Test is open to the public each day (9 a.m.-5 p.m.). There is a $10 admission charge.

Bourdais, who competed part-time in the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2011, will compete in 15 of the 16 events (he'll miss the Milwaukee IndyFest in June because of a commitment to run at Le Mans).

"Obviously, the circumstances are a bit difficult because our program started late and Lotus is in the development phase, but it's an ongoing project so we'll just focus on getting it done," he said. "It will be interesting to come back to the places we were last year, but it's like starting from scratch because it's going to be such a different game with the new car and engine."

Open Test lineup
Group 2 (9 a.m.-noon and 1-5 p.m. March 9):

No. 4 JR Hildebrand (Panther Racing) – Chevrolet
No. 5 E.J. Viso (KV Racing Technology) – Chevrolet
No. 6 Katherine Legge (Lotus Dragon Racing) – Lotus
No. 7 Sebastien Bourdais (Lotus Dragon Racing) – Lotus
No. 8 Rubens Barrichello (KV Racing Technology) – Chevrolet
No. 9 Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) – Honda
No. 10 Dario Franchitti (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) – Honda
No. 11 Tony Kanaan (KV Racing Technology) – Chevrolet
No. 14 Mike Conway (A.J. Foyt Racing) – Honda
No. 15 Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) – Honda
No. 20 Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing) – Chevrolet
No. 22 Oriol Servia (Lotus Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) – Lotus
No. 38 Graham Rahal (Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing) – Honda
No. 67 Josef Newgarden (Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing) – Honda
No. 83 Charlie Kimball (Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing) – Honda
No. 98 Alex Tagliani (Team Barracuda – BHA) – Lotus