Rain at Sebring International Raceway limited Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing drivers Justin Wilson and Graham Rahal to 10 laps each and HVM Racing's Ernesto Viso to 25 laps of testing April 1 on the 1.669-mile road course.

It was the first and only time for both teams to run their Dallara/Honda/Firestone cars on a road or street course before practice begins April 4 for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

After missing the March 19-20 test at Sebring for teams transitioning from the Champ Car World Series, the IndyCar Series offered the team the opportunity to run from 4 to 7 p.m. after a Firestone Indy Lights test. All three drivers were able to shake down their cars during the lunch break.

"The car characteristics are similar to what we are used to," said Rahal, who will make his IndyCar Series debut on the streets of St. Petersburg. "Certainly you can feel the extra weight and higher center of gravity, but we didn't get much time to work on the setup due to the rain. We only got 10 laps of running. The six laps I ran at lunch were installation laps and to work on the gearbox. The winds were also taking away from the speed of the car. Certainly we have got some work to do, but I feel better about going to St. Pete after getting some time, however little, in the car."

Wilson, who finished 15th on the Homestead-Miami Speedway oval three days earlier in his IndyCar Series debut, said he's looking forward to getting on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn circuit in the No. 02 McDonald's car.

"We managed to do two five-lap runs and only worked on the baseline and ride height before it started to rain," he said. "We didn't get to try too much. It was all over too quickly. We did get to check driver fit and still need to make a few modifications, but we have a better idea of what to do now and it was good to work through that before we get on track in St. Pete."

Despite turning only 25 laps, HVM Racing got a chance to make sure that their hours of work converting the Dallara from oval configuration to road course configuration were complete, and the car ran flawlessly for the few laps on track.

"I was very glad to get back in the car and have a chance to test the street race set-up," Viso said. "I was very impressed with the Dallara at Sebring, and while it's different from the DP01, it's very good. Even though we didn't get to run very much, the few laps we did turn gave me and the rest of the team the confidence to go to St. Pete and do well. I'm really looking forward to this weekend and the rest of the season."