McNish restarts testing mill for Toyota

Allan McNish had his first taste of the Toyota Formula 1 car at Paul Ricard on Wednesday as the Japanese marque resumed testing at the Southern French track after Mika Salo's 135mph smash last weekend

The Finn suffered a major accident when his carbon fibre gearbox failed at the end of the Mistral straight while testing on Sunday. He sustained minor injuries after crashing head-on into the barrier and has been advised by doctors to rest for at least a fortnight.

Meanwhile, McNish has taken over the driving duties as Toyota gears up for an assault on F1 next year. The Cologne-based team has a year-long contract to test exclusively at the Paul Ricard circuit.

The reigning ALMS Champion, who is all but confirmed to partner Salo in the team next year, completed eight laps. He said: "For the first laps in the F1 car I was very pleased by its feelings and reactions."

The 31-year-old is expected to continue testing at Ricard until Salo is back to fitness and will then move to other European venues in order to learn the circuits while his team mate, who has almost seven years of F1 experience, remains predominantly in France.