Grapevine: Vasser offers test to Zanardi

The pair were teammates at Ganassi for three years, where Zanardi won two titles and Vasser one.

The American is now a co-owner of PKV Racing, and he made the offer to Zanardi when the pair met at the Assen Champ Car race, Italian magazine Autosprint reports.

"I want him to test as soon as possible," said Vasser. "If he wants to, we can organise this thing before October's race at Surfers Paradise."

Vasser admitted that he had a desire for Zanardi to compete in the series again, and he feels that the Italian would be capable of racing a Champ Car despite the fact that he now has prosthetic legs.

"He's already driven rather well in the BMW F1 car, so I don't think he'd have problems with this one," Vasser added. "It's important for him to do a test, to understand whether there are solvable technical problems and to get the fire back into him."

Zanardi admitted that he was keen to test the car, although he is not sure that he would want to return to racing in America.

"I don't see anything wrong with a test, while for racing it's a different matter," he said. "I'm 40 now, can I go back to live in the USA at my age?

"But Jimmy knows me well, he wants to make the desire come back to me with a test. He knows how to talk to a driver to stimulate him."