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Mika Salo

The former Formula One driver Mika Salo, is set to test a Sprint Cup car next month, amid rumours that he has his eye set on a move to the NASCAR series.

The 42-year-old, began his career in F1 at the penultimate round of the 1994 season for the ailing Lotus team, but after only two races the team folded and he moved to the Tyrrell team for 1995.  The Finn remained with the team for the next three years where he scored several points.

Salo looked set to have a promising future with the Arrows team in 1998 but failed to land a full-time seat for the following season.  However, during the 1999 season, he was called upon to replace the injured Ricardo Zonta at the BAR team for three races.

The Finn was also given his dream drive in 1999, when he was asked to fill the seat of Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari after the British Grand Prix crash left the German driver with a broken leg.  Selected to partner Eddie Irvine, he almost scored a win at the German Grand Prix, in only his second race, but was forced to follow team orders to let his team-mate pass as Irvine was fighting for the championship with Mika Häkkinen.

In 2002, Salo was back in the championship having signed for the Red Bull Sauber team, but after finishing in eleventh place at the end of the season, he made the move to the brand new Toyota team.  After scoring a sixth place for the team on it’s debut year in F1, Salo was surprisingly sacked from the team at the end of the season.

Salo has continued his racing career and in 2007 won the American Le Mans series in the GT2 class.  It had now been revealed that he will be testing for the Michael Waltrip Racing crew in one of their Toyota Camry Cup cars sometime next month.

Racing drivers are among the fittest athletes of all, enjoying the extreme sports like skiing holidays during the close season to keep the adrenalin pumping.