Toyota F1 tester McNish to race at Daytona

The 31-year-old, who will be crowned American Le Mans Series champion in the season finale in Adelaide on New Year's Eve, has signed up to drive a Ferrari 333SP with Risi Competizione. McNish is rejoining the team with which he finished second in Florida's sportscar classic back in 1998 and was a front-runner early on in this year's race.

"It will be good to come back to Daytona and to team up again with Risi," said McNish, who is standing down from Audi's sportscar squad to concentrate on his F1 test role. "The car is a little bit long in the tooth, like the Riley & Scott [the main opposition]. But they're still competitive for the long races."

McNish could team up with long-time rival David Brabham, the man who beat him to the 1989 British Formula 3 title and has been a sparring partner in the ALMS this year. The Australian will race for Risi on February 3-4 if testing commitments with the all-new 2001 Panoz Roadster allow.

Brabham, 35, said: " I've always wanted to win Daytona after I finished second overall[with Jaguar] in 1992. I haven't driven a Ferrari 333SP before, but it would be a great experience to have a go. It's a good car and still capable of winning the race."

Risi's driving squad is completed by Ralf Kelleners, who drove the team in this year's Grand-Am series, and Eric van de Poele, part of the Houston operation's winning line-up in the 1998 Petit Le Mans enduro.

Risi Competizione, one of the leading Ferrari sportscar teams since 1998, believes the eight-year-old Ferrari design can be competitive at Daytona, the opening round of the 2001 Grand-Am series. "For an endurance race like Daytona, the Ferrari still has potential," said team technical boss John McLoughlin.

Heading the opposition at Daytona will be two-time race winner Dyson Racing. The team will run two Riley & Scott MkIII chassis for a line-up of drivers including British sportscar aces James Weaver and Andy Wallace and Americans Butch Leitzinger and Elliott Forbes-Robinson.