Franchitti tests for Mercedes

Franchitti, who won a brace of IRL races this year, made his name with the HWA team  - in their AMG guise - in the DTM in 1995 and its subsequent 'world series', the ITC, in 1996.

Since switching his career to American single-seaters in 1997, Franchitti has remained close friends with HWA technical director Gerhard Unger, and took advantage of being out of contract with IRL superteam Andretti Green Racing to sample Mercedes' latest generation DTM car last week.

Unger told autosport.com: "It was a pretty good test, actually, and he did very well. He only had a day and a half in the car, and it's difficult to get in a DTM car because it's a completely different thing to drive than what he's been used to. With a bit more testing, I'm sure he'd be on a competitive pace."

When asked if there was a chance of Franchitti returning to the series next year, as has been reported in the German press, Unger said: "No, not at the moment. Maybe he's thinking about it in a few years time."

Current DTM stars Mika Hakkinen and Jamie Green also drove for the team during the test, which was also attended by Mucke Motorsport. The Berlin-based team ran World Series by Renault racers Jaap van Lagen and Daniel la Rosa in its 2004-spec cars.