McRae to try out new Formula

Former world rally champion Colin McRae will test drive a Stewart Formula One car later this year and he could ultimately make the switch to Grand Prix racing.

"He will be given a free run to go out and see what he can do," Ford rally team spokesman Mark Wilford said yesterday during the Portuguese Rally.

"It's an open thing - we'll put him in a Formula One car and see what happens. "Colin has always been interested in Formula One.

McRae leads the Portuguese rally after 17 stages. McRae, world rally champion in 1995, has driven a Formula One car before - a Jordan in 1996 in a swap with Martin Brundle who took the wheel of his championship-winning Subaru in return.

Brundle entered the 1996 British Rally in a Ford while the late F1 champion Jim Clark also tried his hand at rallying.

"To drive in Formula One is something I have been thinking about for quite a while," said McRae. "If I do the test and I am competitive, then I must consider what I might be getting into. If I am committed, there is no reason why I couldn't drive in Formula One."

Wilford said the Stewart test would be more serious than the Jordan outing. An eventual move to Formula One could not be ruled out although it all depended on how the Scot performed during the test drive. "It's too early to speculate until he's actually been in the car and driven it," he said.

Martin Whitaker, Ford's director of European motor sport, said that McRae was "on a par with Michael Schumacher" as far as his driving ability was concerned.

"They are both good in all conditions," he said. "In fact, Colin is streets ahead of Formula One drivers in terms of being a complete driver." McRae would not be the first champion from one branch of motor sport to have a test in a Formula One car or to make the switch from one discipline to another.

John Surtees won the motorcycle world title before going on to take the Formula One crown while Italian 250 cc motorcycling champion Max Biaggi tested a Ferrari last year.

Briton Vic Elford won the Monte Carlo rally in a Porsche in 1968 and then finished fourth in a Cooper in the French Grand Prix the same year.