Champ Alan McNish moves on

After securing a 24 Hours of Le Mans win in 1998 and an American Le Mans Series title in 2000, Scot Alan McNish is relishing his next challenge. Speaking at the Autosport Show in Birmingham, England, McNish will return to single- seaters in 2001 as a test driver for the Toyota Formula One effort, and hopefully, as their driver for the maiden season in 2002.

"It's been about ten years in coming," exclaimed McNish, referring to the fact that he graduated from the single-seater feeder formulae over a decade ago, and has been a Grand Prix test driver previously for several teams including McLaren.

Though he's greatly anticipating his return to the cockpit of an F1 car, McNish says he'll miss sportscars.

"Sportscar racing is so competitive. There are such a variety of cars and the racing is so hard at the front. Also, in sportscars, there's such a speed differential between the LMP cars and the GT3 cars. At Le Mans, the LMP cars are doing about 230 mph down the Mulsanne while the GT3s are doing 195 mph. I'm passing at least one car a lap every lap of the race," said McNish. "There's also such a camaraderie among the teams in sportscar racing, that I'll miss."

-George Tamayo