By Jonathan Noble Monday, December 11th 2006, 14:21 GMT
Three times Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais will test for Scuderia Toro Rosso at Jerez in Spain this week.
The Frenchman will get a three-day try out at the Spanish circuit from Wednesday, amid speculation that he could be in contention for a race seat at the Italian outfit next year.
Although the team have said several times that they expect both Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed to remain on board for another season, there has not yet been any confirmation about their futures.
Significantly, Toro Rosso did not lodge either of their drivers' names with their FIA entry to next year's Formula One world championship.
Bourdais is currently contracted to Newman-Haas for next season, but sources have revealed that he has an option in his deal that would allow him to switch to F1 if he was offered a race seat.
A Toro Rosso spokeswoman has denied, however, that the test in a precursor to a race driver for Bourdais in 2007.
"For now there are no discussions about driving next year," the spokeswoman told autosport.com. "It is just a test."
The test comes as a major surprise, especially as the Frenchman said just last month that he thought his F1 hopes were finished after top teams continued to ignore his success in the Unites States.
"I think it's over," Bourdais told sports daily L'Equipe. "It's frustrating but there are loads of talented drivers who never went to F1...one can always say it's unfair but that's F1, and it's never been fair."
He told L'Equipe that several teams had been interested in taking him on as a test driver but with no guarantees of an eventual race seat.
"I was supposed to give up everything I had spent four years building up - for a perhaps," said Bourdais.
In July he said: "I don't think people in the paddock recognize my achievements. I won in F3000, I've won two titles since coming [to the United States], and this year is looking pretty good. I'm not sure what more I have to do. I can't even get a test.
"Do people expect me to go back to Europe and prove myself again in GP2? That would be a massive step back - if only in terms of earnings."
