Manning pushing for US drive

The Briton, who lost his drive at Chip Ganassi Racing in the IRL in the middle of last season, is determined to keep his focus on racing in the United States.

"It was a bit of a disappointing end to the 2005 season, with Ganassi letting me go before the season was out," he said on the Central Stage at the Autosport International Show.

"I am going back to the USA next week to talk to some Champ Car teams about a deal and it will be good to go back to road courses rather than doing those round-and-round things (ovals)."

The recent success of Justin Wilson in Champ Cars has given Manning fresh motivation to make a return to the category where he raced in 2003 with Walker.

"Justin came into Champ Cars after I did my time there," he added. "He is a great mate of mine. He didn't get the right treatment from Jaguar and Minardi in F1, it was a good break but didn't turn out the right way, but he has since carved himself out a nice career."

And Manning believes that if he can make a success of a return to Champ Cars then it could open up further opportunities outside the USA, even though he is not pushing hard for any F1 role.

"I have not turned my back on F1 but we are not pushing that side of things. If I do Champ Cars this year, win every race and the championship and then get some phone calls from F1, we will obviously take them and put those on the table.

"And if something was better than what I have in the USA then great, but if that doesn't happen we won't be looking at F1."