HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Beads of sweat started gathering on Tomas Scheckter's forehead as he rested between practice sessions Thursday.

So he unzipped his blue fire suit and took some antibiotics to try to relieve the effects of bronchitis. This might have been a good omen.

	IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr. posted the quickest time in Thursday's second practice at Homestead, Fla.

Scheckter's father, former Formula One champion Jody Scheckter, had the same illness when he first made his mark more than 30 years ago.

Tomas Scheckter is hoping for similar results in his IRL debut Saturday in the Grand Prix of Miami. The 21-year-old rookie from South Africa certainly got off to a strong start Thursday.

He posted the top practice speeds at Homestead-Miami Speedway, covering the 1½-mile oval in 26.4 seconds while reaching 204.497 mph. That was slightly faster than teammate and boss Eddie Cheever Jr.

"It's just a learning curve for me," said Scheckter, who signed with Cheever Racing on Tuesday. "Hopefully we can carry on learning without any mistakes. I'm not trying to overwhelm myself with goals I want to set. I'd love to win a couple of races and to take part in the Indy 500 would be great."

Penske Racing teammates Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran also had solid showings on the opening day. Castroneves, last year's Indy 500 champion, had the third-fastest practice speed. De Ferran, a two-time CART champion, was eighth.

"I don't think my car is the fastest, but definitely my car is very consistent, and here on the ovals you have to have a very consistent car," said Castroneves, like de Ferran in his first season as an IRL regular.

Scheckter has been fast ever since he started racing go-karts in 1992.

A former South African karting champion, he moved to Europe in 1998 and won the Formula Opel Euroseries with a record eight victories in 1999. He was second in the British Formula 3 series in 2000 and last year's runner up in the Formula Nissan championship in Europe.

In late January -- without having raced in the United States or on an oval track -- Scheckter was the fastest driver during the IRL rookie test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"Within 15 laps, it was apparent we had somebody who had all the right physical and mental ability," said Cheever, who used the test to help choose a driver for his team's second car.

Cheever picked Scheckter over Americans Jeff Ward and Buddy Rice, and Englishman Daniel Wheldon.

"I'm sure there are people in this series who will be ticked off, saying 'Why didn't you give that ride to an American driver who wants to race ovals?' " said 1998 Indy 500 winner Cheever. "I don't care. I will always pick the very best driver I can."

So far it looks like a good move.

But don't expect Scheckter to stay in the IRL very long. He wants to race in F1 like his father, and Cheever said the Arrows team already has shown strong interest in the young driver.

"My main goal is to go back to Formula One," said Scheckter, one of seven rookies in the IRL this season. "It's the way I've been brought up and that's the way I want to go. All the time when you're doing go-karts, you're thinking about doing Formula One.

"But for the moment, I just have to concentrate on my IRL season and do the best job I can do here."

That means racing -- and hopefully winning -- with bronchitis.

"When I told my dad I was sick, he just said, 'That's all right. I won my first Formula 2 race with bronchitis, so you'll be fine.' "