Fisichella will be fit, claims Jordan

Giancarlo Fisichella should be ready to return to the cockpit to take part in this weekend's German Grand Prix, according to his Jordan team

The Italian was shaken by a 150mph shunt in practice for last weekend's French GP, and although he was physically unhurt, Formula 1 doctor Sid Watkins ruled him out from driving in qualifying and the race.

The team is confident he will pass an examination ahead of the German GP and now Fisichella is looking forward to working with Honda's latest specification engine.

"I'm very curious to experience the new Hockenheim circuit with its recent modifications and I'm very committed about this race," he said. "In Magny-Cours, I realised that we have a good technical package with the new Honda engine specification, and I'm really looking forward to trying it out this week."

With only a few days between the French and German GPs, it was fortunate that Fisichella's EJ12 was not too badly damaged in the shunt last Saturday morning.

Gary Anderson, director of race and test engineering, said: "Giancarlo's chassis was sent back to the factory on the Saturday night of the French GP and arrived in Hockenheim on Wednesday morning. Essentially the damage was superficial and only to the bodywork."

Anderson added that the team was buoyed by the performance of the Honda engine in Takuma Sato's car at Magny-Cours.

"Takuma used Honda's very latest spec engine in qualifying and the race in Magny-Cours and we are pleased with it," he said. "It's a good step forward. We will qualify and race with the same specification in Hockenheim, which will be Giancarlo's first opportunity to take advantage of the improvement."