What has been a relatively quiet off-season for Panther Racing will get noisy on Monday morning in Sebring Raceway, when the engine of its Indy Pro Series car will fire up for two potential drivers.

Talented newcomer Leilani Munter and IndyCar Series veteran P.J. Chesson will take to Sebring's 17-turn, 3.7-mile Florida racecourse in the team's IPS car – freshly painted black & orange in anticipation of the upcoming season.

Neither driver is signed with the team, and Panther co-owner John Barnes is looking at the test as an opportunity to evaluate both drivers, who are notably oval specialists and neither has significant road course experience.

"It's always positive for us to test," Barnes said. "And it gives us a good chance to gauge where P.J. and Leilani are in a road course setting since neither of them has done much on non-oval tracks. Right now, all this is is an on-track evaluation."

Munter, one of three drivers under consideration for the IPS seat, started two races last season with Sam Schmidt Motorsports. She has previous experience with stock cars and the ARCA series, but last season at Kentucky Speedway the former body-double for Catherine Zeta-Jones qualified in fifth position for her first career race.

Panther sent her to Sebring early on Thursday so she could undergo a Skip Barber training course before jumping into the IPS car on Monday.

"I watched her last season at Kentucky and was impressed," Barnes said. "We'll find out where her road course ability is on Monday."

Panther's IPS team finished second in the championship last season behind Alex Lloyd, who was later signed by Ganassi Racing's development driver program. Four years earlier, Panther won the IPS championship and seven races with Mark Taylor.

Chesson, who is among several front runners for the team's second IndyCar seat, is using the test as a refresher on the road course also. With a background from the World of Outlaws and predominantly-oval training, PJ will draw from just two road course starts in open-wheel racing – both at St. Pete; one each in the IndyCar and Indy Pro series.

Should either or both of the drivers eventually land a ride with Panther, former team driver Tomas Enge has been contacted as a potential driver coach. Enge, who raced extensively in ALMS last season, maintains a strong relationship with Barnes and has expressed interest in the position.

The driver selected for Panther's second car will team with Vitor Meira, who is expected to return to the No. 4 Delphi car for his third season with Panther. Meira is set to become the longest-tenured Panther driver in terms of starts. Currently, Meira ranks third with 31 career starts, behind only Tomas Scheckter (33) and Sam Hornish Jr. (44).

He is set to eclipse Hornish for the most starts in team history this season at Infineon Raceway, which is scheduled to be his 45th start in the No. 4 car.

Barnes cautioned that neither Chesson, nor Munter, is under contract.

"We've got a ways to go and have some decisions to make before you're going to see an announcement on any of our programs," he said. "But in the meantime, we're going to test and make sure (new Technical Director) Henri Durand has some information to work with and get familiar with our guys."

Press Release
Panther Racing