A new test awaits Narain

Having long been rumoured to be on Williams8217; shortlist as their Friday test driver, Narain Karthikeyan boosted his hopes of a second se...

Having long been rumoured to be on Williams8217; shortlist as their Friday test driver, Narain Karthikeyan boosted his hopes of a second season in Formula One after the team named him for Wednesday8217;s test at Jerez, Spain.

Confirming this was technical director Sam Michael who said: 8216;8216;He Karthikeyan will be in the car on Wednesday 7 December,8221; though Karthikeyan was not available for comment after it was given to understand that he was in transit to Jerez via Barcelona.

The three-day test will see Karthikeyan and Germany8217;s Nico Rosberg 8212; Williams8217; second driver apart from Australian Mark Webber for 2006 8212; get a run in Williams8217; interim chassis.

With Williams denying that he is their choice for third driver through an official statement; Karthikeyan will test for the team pending the announcement of the team8217;s third driver, the offer itself proves he is their first choice.

The former Jordan racer, who is fighting for the third seat with Nicolas Kiesa, will join Williams in its search for a new test and reserve driver to replace the departing Antonio Pizzonia.

The team however made it clear that the Indian will test for them until an announcement was made about their third driver 8212; a role Williams8217; needs a driver who can bring funding to the team now that it has switched from a works partnership with BMW to a supply of customer engines from Cosworth.

It is believed that this pay-drive is being offered at around 7.5m, a figure that Kiesa 8212; an ex-Minardi driver 8212; has also matched. Karthikeyan and Kiesa were the only contenders left in fray after the highly rated Anthony Davidson and current McLaren test driver Alex Wurz fell out of line with offers way below expectation.

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On Wednesday, Karthikeyan role is pretty simple. Says Michael: 8220;Narain will help us with normal testing duties.. at this stage in the development of the FW27C, we have a series of systems checks and initial set-up investigations to complete.8221;

Should he land the job full-time, Karthikeyan, would test on the Friday of each Grand Prix, as well as away from race weekends.