Midland Plans to Hire Russian Test Driver

Russian Roman Rusinov will test Midland's new Formula One car this year and could also be used by Jordan, team owner Alex Shnaider said today.

Rusinov, 23, raced last year in the GT category of the Le Mans Endurance series, winning the title.

"We're planning to take an existing Russian driver, Roman Rusinov, to be one of Midland's F1 test drivers this year," the Russian-born Canadian businessman told the Toronto Star newspaper.

"Our car, the chassis, will be ready from Dallara at the end of the summer and he'll start testing that car. He might test the Jordan car before then but we haven't determined that yet."

Jordan will be renamed Midland next year.

Midland are developing a car with Italian chassis maker Dallara and had planned to enter their own team from 2006 before they decided to buy British-based Jordan and come in this year.

Shnaider said the aim was to use Formula One to grow the Midland business. "Midland is uniquely positioned in eastern Europe, Russia, Serbia and other satellite Soviet republics," he said.

"Many companies, the multinationals, want to enter the Russian market because of its growing middle class, its large population and growing economy.

"We are in a position to help a lot of those companies, to open doors for them. We have all the exposure and all the marketing benefits that Formula One offers.

"We can also offer business-to-business opportunities that other racing teams are just not able to. They are racing teams. We are a business and that, basically, is our model."