Priaulx to test for Williams again

The Briton, who captured the WTCC crown at Macau, has maintained close links with Williams since testing for them earlier this year and has made no secret of his desire to keep up to speed with single-seaters.

And with Williams appearing to be no nearer finalising who their third driver will be, the team have decided to call up Priaulx for their first run of the winter. He will drive alongside Nico Rosberg for the team's maiden run with Cosworth engines.

Speaking to autosport.com, Priaulx admitted that he was happy to maintain his links with Williams - having impressed them when he made a debut appearance at Valencia in January as a prize for winning the 2004 European Touring Car Championship.

"I've kept in regular contact with them and I've built up a pretty good relationship," said Priaulx, who also tested for Williams at Vallelunga this year. "I think they like working with me and I'm happy to go out there and do a good job for them. They seem to be positive about what I've done for them so far."

Priaulx has made it clear, however, that he is not getting carried away with dreams about landing the third driver role at the team. He already has a contract to race in the WTCC with BMW for the next two years.

"I'm not getting blown away by this chance and I'm not suddenly expecting to land an F1 race drive. I know that the third driver at Williams needs to bring a lot of money, which I don't have.

"I'm going to be in touring cars next year, I've got a contract for that, and it would take a lot for me to turn my back on that and put it all on the line to try and find some money.

"But I will happily take any opportunity that comes up."

The fight for Williams' third driver is believed to be between Narain Karthikeyan and Nicolas Kiesa, and it had been thought that a decision would have been made prior to the Barcelona test.