MAY 1, 2002

Da Matta to test for Toyota

Cristiano da Matta, the star of CART, is to test a Formula 1 car at the end of May at Paul Ricard.

CRISTIANO DA MATTA, the star of CART, is to test a Formula 1 car at the end of May at Paul Ricard. The 29-year-old Brazilian is currently halfway through a three-year deal with Newman Haas Racing in the CART series but has always harbored ambitions of racing in Formula 1 and this was the motivation for going to Europe in 1995.

After an abortive career in Formula 3 and Formula 3000 he decided to go to America in 1997 and won the Indy Lights series in 1998 with Tasman Motorsport. He then moved into CART with the Toyota-supplied Arciero Wells.

He has retained close links with Toyota for the last three years and so his major hope of getting to F1 is with the German-based team as at 29 he is now too old to get into F1 and work his way up.