DECEMBER 9, 2003

Norbert Siedler to test for Minardi

Austrian driver Norbert Siedler is to test drive for Minardi this week at Vallelunga. The 20-year-old has backing from both Superfund and Red Bull, both of which have money available for F1 in 2004.

Seidler has been racing since he was nine and is the son of a former mechanic who worked with Gerhard Berger. He comes from the Tyrol region near Kitzbuhel and has been a member of the Red Bull Junior Team this year while racing in the Nissan Telefonica World Series. He made his Formula 3000 debut recently in the European Championship race at Cagliari and finished an impressive third.

Siedler was engineered this year in his Superfund Zele Racing car by former F1 man Harvey Spencer, who worked in Formula 1 for 20 years with the likes of Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet.

Siedler will be joined in the test by Italian Fabrizio del Monte and the two Renault-Juniors Heikki Kovalainen and Jose Maria Lopez.