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Doornbos to Add Champ Car to F1 Test Role?
Written by: Adam Cooper   http://www.speedtv.com
10/15/2006
Sao Paulo, Brazil
 


Doornbos could pull double duty in Champ Car next season as he awaits the opportunity to race in F1 in '08. (LAT Photo) ยป More Photos

Robert Doornbos says he has an eye open for a Champ Car opportunity because he wants to keep racing in 2007.

This year the Dutchman was third driver for Red Bull, and was handed the opportunity to do the last three races when the management fell out with Christian Klien.

RBR has indicated that it would like him to stay in as tester next year, but with the new restrictions Doornbos does not expect to get too much mileage as David Coulthard and the incoming Mark Webber will want to make the most of any available opportunities.

"There's a plan to stay here within Red Bull as the third driver, which they would like," Doornbos told SPEEDtv.com. "And to wait basically for 2008 when a seat becomes available. Or if I can do enough in these three weekends they could also say we'll get you a seat in Champ Car just to stay fit for 2007, and then for 2008 you can come back here.

"You need to stay busy. I'm 24, and I can't just wait for 5000kms of testing or whatever. Mark and David are motivated drivers, and they would like to do their testing themselves,
which I don't blame them for. So I'm looking at that option."

Doornbos admits that he has had less test mileage this year than he expected, in part because technical problems with the new car restricted running before the start of the season.

"Personally, as test driver I expected a bit more from the team. I was at most of the tests, but just standing around in the pits a lot because of problems on the car. So I didn't get the mileage that a third driver at BMW or McLaren got. That was quite disappointing, but Fridays were the cherry on the cake for me, and it was good to see my name in the top three on a consistent basis.

"Obviously you can extract more out of the tIres and you have more revs than the race drivers, but the team never put me in a situation like full-on qualifying, like they did at BMW.

"But still we did a good job and it was good experience, because you could see how quickly F1 forgets you. If you are one weekend not there, nobody really cares. It was really good to finish the season with a race seat and a chance to prove yourself."