Toyota Atlantic champ Rice gets F3000 test

Super Nova team boss David Sears said: "He's coming over to Barcelona to test for us this week and then he'll test for us again in Estoril next week. We'll see how he gets on.

"I think he's been overlooked by a few people and [Champ Car team boss] Chip [Ganassi] would like to see him over here for a couple of years, but we'll see how he goes," he added.

The logic of Ganassi protégé Rice signing for Super Nova is obvious: Sears manages Williams-bound Juan Pablo Montoya and Ganassi Racing's newly-signed rookie duo of F3000 champ Bruno Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian, who finished runner-up in the series for Super Nova.

The test will also see a head-to-head between the cream of Europe's graduating Formula 3 champions: British champion Antonio Pizzonia will run for a second time for the Petrobras team as speculation grows that he may take the Williams F1 test seat, while German champ Giorgio Pantano and French title-winner Jonathan Cochet, who won at Pau and Zandvoort's Marlboro Masters, will also be out.

Britain's Darren Manning will run again with Arden, along with Russian Viktor Maslov and possibly Italian F3000 champ Ricardo Sperafico.

The majority of the FIA Championship's registered teams will be in attendance, with testing then moving to Estoril on the 11th and 12th of November.