nathan-post-race.jpgNathan will be hoping that the technical problems which beset him in the first round of the Indy Pro Series in Miami can be ironed out for the next two rounds at St Petersburg Honda Grand Prix meeting. His hopes of a strong start in the popular American series were dashed after problems with his Dallara car meant he could only finish in 20th place at the Miami Homestead Speedway oval track.

Nathan should be more at home when he and team Michael Crawford Motorsport go to St Petersburg for two rounds of street circuit racing on Saturday and Sunday. The 2006 Formula Ford champion and the team have spent the week testing the car at the Sebring International Raceway to fix the problems encountered at Homestead. Preparations for the first race in Miami were hampered when his final chance to get some practice on an oval stopped short after his car broke down.

Despite a new engine Nathan suffered a reccurrence of the problem during the first test session at Homestead. While it was fixed in time for the second and final session before qualifying, the lack of setup time meant that Nathan was not comfortable with the car’s set-up and struggled to find race pace only securing 17th place on the starting grid. He suffered another set back during the start, after an error by one of the drivers blocked the second half of the grid from beginning the race. Nathan battled on but his frustrating day was completed when he was blocked by a car in front and slipped to 20th.

Now he will be aiming to bounce back on the streets of St Petersburg this weekend. Hopefully the technical issues will be resolved and Nathan can show what he is really capable of.