Zanardi could make racing return

The Italian, who lost both his legs in a crash during the EuroSpeedway Lausitz Champ Car race in 2001, completed 27 laps of Misano in the specially adapted car, including a 14-lap sequence equivalent to a normal ETCC race distance.

Zanardi lapped in 1m42.9s, 3.5 seconds slower than the benchmark set by reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi, although Zanardi was driving an upgraded Super Production machine rather than a full-blown 2003 car.

"Times were not my priority," said Zanardi. "We were focusing on setting the Faidel [the company that constructed the hand controls] system up, in order to give me total control of the car. We have planned more tests, and only when I will feel confident I will be looking for the lap times. My goal is to reduce the gap from Giovanardi to two tenths."

Zanardi had previously tried the car at Adria, where he will return for another test on August 28. If this is successful, Alex could drive a third Ravaglia BMW in the final round of the ETCC at Monza on October 19.