Grapevine: Salo in Talks with Pollock's Team

Finnish former Formula One driver Mika Salo is in discussions with CART team chief Craig Pollock over a move to the United States-based series later this year.

Salo, who briefly raced for the BAR Formula One team when Pollock was in control of the Brackley-based outfit in 1999, was sacked by Toyota at the end of last season and announced his retirement from motorsport.

Pollock, however, believes he can coax him back to the racetrack.

"We've been talking to Mika," said Pollock. "We want an experienced driver in the second car and it is going to help us and the series at the same time. There are plans to run a second car as fast as humanly possible, but what we are going to do is make sure the total funding is there for the car, which could be a few races towards the end of the season."

Salo made his Formula One debut with Lotus in 1994 and drove for Tyrrell and Arrows before being given his big break as a fill-in for Michael Schumacher at Ferrari when the German broke his leg at Silverstone in 1999.

He raced for Sauber the following season but took another year off in 2001 to prepare for Toyota's debut last year and clocked up 93 starts in his career, with a best finish of second for Ferrari in the 1999 German Grand Prix.