Williams has signed Formula 3 Euro Series frontrunner Valtteri Bottas as its official test driver for the 2010 Formula 1 season.

The 20-year-old Finn, who is managed by former world champion Mika Hakkinen, steps into the role vacated by GP2 champion Nico Hulkenberg, who has been promoted to the Williams race team this year.

“This is a great way to start 2010,” said Bottas. “I am very honoured to have been selected by a team as prestigious as AT&T Williams, one of the most significant names in the sport.”

Bottas pledged to do his utmost to justify Williams’s faith in him.

“This is an important step in my career but now the real work starts to get to the top,” he said. “I am sure I will learn a lot with the team and I trust that together we will achieve great results for the years to come.

“This opportunity gives me even more positive energy to improve as a driver and achieve my future targets as my ultimate goal will be to become Formula 1 world champion one day.

“I take the opportunity to thank Sir Frank Williams and the senior management of the team and also to thanks my management and my sponsors for all their work and support so far.”

Bottas finished third in his F3 Euro Series rookie season last year with top team ART, and is among the 2010 title favourites having completed a deal to stay with the squad.

Sir Frank Williams added: “Valtteri’s CV is very impressive, with a long list of success in the right junior formulae. We hope that the role of official test driver in our squad will provide him with another step in his development. We wish him all the best in the Formula 3 Euro Series this season.”

SunTrust Racing will start on pole position when the Daytona 24 Hours gets underway on Saturday, after a superb lap by Max Angelelli in today’s qualifying session.

The Italian – who will share SunTrust’s #10 Dallara-Ford with Pedro Lamy, Ricky Taylor and team boss Wayne Taylor – set a time of 1m40.681s, nearly half a second clear of nearest rival Oswaldro Negri Jr.

“It was important to get the pole, I can’t deny that. We wanted pole badly,” said Angelelli.

“I was pretty confident. Our Dallara chassis and Ford engine are always good. Now it is up to us drivers to make it happen.”

Behind Angelelli, less than a tenth of a second covered the next four cars, with the two Michael Shank Racing Riley-Fords lining up ahead of Ganassi’s two Riley-BMWs.

Christophe Bouchut put the best of the Level 5 Riley-BMWs on the outside of row three, while last year’s winning team Brumos will start seventh with Darren Law, Hurley Haywood, David Donohue, Raphael Matos and Butch Leitzinger.

Former Grand-Am champion team GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing missed qualifying completely after NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson crashed its #99 Riley-Chevrolet while avoiding a GT car in practice. After initially thinking it would have to bring in a replacement car, the team is rebuilding the chassis with a new rear end. Johnson, who will share the car with Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty and Jimmy Vasser, is having the new section flown in using his private plane.

SpeedSource took GT class pole for the third straight year, although this time it was Jeff Segal in the #69 Mazda who claimed the top spot, with double class polesitter Sylvain Trembley only third in the sister car, behind the Racers Edge Mazda.

Pos  Drivers                                    Car             Time

 1.  Angelelli/Lamy/Taylor/Taylor               Dallara-Ford    1m40.681s

 2.  Frisselle/Negri/Pew/Wilkins                Riley-Ford      1m41.100s

 3.  Allmendinger/Frisselle/Patterson/Valiante  Riley-Ford      1m41.110s

 4.  Dixon/Franchitti/McMurray/Montoya          Riley-BMW       1m41.147s

 5.  Papis/Pruett/Rojas/Wilson                  Riley-BMW       1m41.164s

 6.  Bouchut/Bourdais/Collard/Maassen/Tucker    Riley-BMW       1m41.463s

 7.  Donohue/Haywood/Law/Leitzinger/Matos       Riley-Porsche   1m41.513s

 8.  Barbosa/Borcheller/Dalziel/Rockenfeller    Riley-Porsche   1m41.603s

 9.  Braun/Jonsson/Krohn/Zonta                  Lola-Ford       1m42.060s

10.  Garcia/Manning/Menard/Rice                 Coyote-Porsche  1m42.074s

Fernando Alonso admits he is upbeat about the competitiveness of the new Ferrari F10, unveiled in Maranello on Thursday morning.

The Spaniard is joining Ferrari from Renault, replacing Kimi Raikkonen and aiming to take the title back to Maranello after a poor 2009 season.

Alonso says he is approaching the new challenge with calm as he is confident the work done by his new team will result in a competitive car.

“I’m very calm regarding the work done by all the technicians at Ferrari,” said Alonso. “We have the best technicians in the world. The work we’re doing in February, with Felipe’s and my suggestions on the car, makes me really confident as far as the first race is concerned.

“We have a team that is able to set up the best possible car for you in a very short time. What raises our confidence are the technicians, the data from the wind tunnel, the suspension, the mechanics and the engine. It might even happen that the data on the track will be even more encouraging.”

The two-time champion said joining Ferrari is the realisation of another dream for him.

“All the dreams in my career came true: now the one to become a Ferrari driver,” he added. “Ten years ago I met Ferrari managers, but back then it was about racing for a client team, like Prost.

“Now the feeling is different, I can almost feel the car in Valencia, it’s very exciting. I hope to stay here for many years, because if you don’t win the championship one year, you don’t have to consider to change the team.”

And the Spaniard insisted his relationship with new team-mate Felipe Massa is already very good.

“Felipe and I both race for Ferrari. It is important that a red car wins. We’ll both give it our all to improve our performance, we’ll both give 100%. I’ve always had strong teammates and I never had any problems with then. I have a great relation to all of them and it won’t be different with Felipe.”

Fernando Alonso admits he is upbeat about the competitiveness of the new Ferrari F10, unveiled in Maranello on Thursday morning.

The Spaniard is joining Ferrari from Renault, replacing Kimi Raikkonen and aiming to take the title back to Maranello after a poor 2009 season.

Alonso says he is approaching the new challenge with calm as he is confident the work done by his new team will result in a competitive car.

“I’m very calm regarding the work done by all the technicians at Ferrari,” said Alonso. “We have the best technicians in the world. The work we’re doing in February, with Felipe’s and my suggestions on the car, makes me really confident as far as the first race is concerned.

“We have a team that is able to set up the best possible car for you in a very short time. What raises our confidence are the technicians, the data from the wind tunnel, the suspension, the mechanics and the engine. It might even happen that the data on the track will be even more encouraging.”

The two-time champion said joining Ferrari is the realisation of another dream for him.

“All the dreams in my career came true: now the one to become a Ferrari driver,” he added. “Ten years ago I met Ferrari managers, but back then it was about racing for a client team, like Prost.

“Now the feeling is different, I can almost feel the car in Valencia, it’s very exciting. I hope to stay here for many years, because if you don’t win the championship one year, you don’t have to consider to change the team.”

And the Spaniard insisted his relationship with new team-mate Felipe Massa is already very good.

“Felipe and I both race for Ferrari. It is important that a red car wins. We’ll both give it our all to improve our performance, we’ll both give 100%. I’ve always had strong teammates and I never had any problems with then. I have a great relation to all of them and it won’t be different with Felipe.”

Fernando Alonso admits he is upbeat about the competitiveness of the new Ferrari F10, unveiled in Maranello on Thursday morning.

The Spaniard is joining Ferrari from Renault, replacing Kimi Raikkonen and aiming to take the title back to Maranello after a poor 2009 season.

Alonso says he is approaching the new challenge with calm as he is confident the work done by his new team will result in a competitive car.

“I’m very calm regarding the work done by all the technicians at Ferrari,” said Alonso. “We have the best technicians in the world. The work we’re doing in February, with Felipe’s and my suggestions on the car, makes me really confident as far as the first race is concerned.

“We have a team that is able to set up the best possible car for you in a very short time. What raises our confidence are the technicians, the data from the wind tunnel, the suspension, the mechanics and the engine. It might even happen that the data on the track will be even more encouraging.”

The two-time champion said joining Ferrari is the realisation of another dream for him.

“All the dreams in my career came true: now the one to become a Ferrari driver,” he added. “Ten years ago I met Ferrari managers, but back then it was about racing for a client team, like Prost.

“Now the feeling is different, I can almost feel the car in Valencia, it’s very exciting. I hope to stay here for many years, because if you don’t win the championship one year, you don’t have to consider to change the team.”

And the Spaniard insisted his relationship with new team-mate Felipe Massa is already very good.

“Felipe and I both race for Ferrari. It is important that a red car wins. We’ll both give it our all to improve our performance, we’ll both give 100%. I’ve always had strong teammates and I never had any problems with then. I have a great relation to all of them and it won’t be different with Felipe.”

Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo has suggested the door will be open for Valentino Rossi if he wanted to make a switch to Formula 1 next year.

The Italian MotoGP champion recently tested for the Ferrari team again at the Barcelona circuit, and the Italian squad was impressed with his performance.

Rossi had been linked with Ferrari in the past, and rumours have reemerged again following the test.

Di Montezemolo said during the launch of Ferrari’s new car that he would welcome Rossi if the possibility arose next year.

“He’s a friend and an undisputed champion, from Emilia-Romagna, a great fan of Formula 1 and engines, and also a potential Formula 1 champion,” said di Montezemolo.

“If there was the possibility in 2011 and he wanted to do it and had the possibility for testing and adapting to F1, then why not?”

The Ferrari head insisted he is in favour of allowing teams to run three cars in the future, a move that would help drivers like Rossi or young stars race in Formula 1.

“I want to be a little more general: I spoke about the possibility of a third car, but I didn’t say that Ferrari needs to have three cars,” he said. “I’m well aware of the objections coming from the small teams. I was talking from the point of view of the interest of Formula 1 and of potential new entries in Formula 1.

“The third car could also be helpful for young drivers, to let them grow. It’s not right that a boy, who has never driven in Formula 1 starts into a race without training and tests. Here’s the idea: I would happily give a Ferrari to an American, German or Australian team and let the car be managed by them.

“They would definitely spend less than if they had to build a car on their own from scratch. They could hand it over to a talented and strong driver or try it with a young driver with a certain potential.

“I told Domenicali to work on the possibility that some teams, like ours, could hand over cars to other teams.”

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo says he never expected Michael Schumacher to drive for another team, the Italian labelling the German’s return to F1 with Mercedes as a “misdeed”.

The Ferrari boss also said he was responsible for making Schumacher feel the desire to return to Formula 1 after his retirement in 2006.

Schumacher spent 13 years at Ferrari before he decided to quit three years ago. This year it was announced the German would join Mercedes GP for at least three seasons.

“I like Schumacher and I’m this misdeed’s author,” di Montezemolo said during the launch of Ferrari’s new car in Maranello.

“It was me who woke his desire to come back to racing and honestly I never thought I’d see him in a car that wasn’t a Ferrari.

“He’s a competitor, an opponent, like many others. I’m not worried about the possibility that he might have taken material from our development.”

Di Montezemolo also praised his own drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, who he reckons will form a strong partnership this year.

“When Ferrari decided in 2005 to take Raikkonen the alternative was Alonso, who now finds himself in a fundamental moment of his life. He’s matured, young and strong; he has won two World Championships, one in 2005 and one in 2006, beating us 100 per cent,” he added.

“We don’t have any problem as far as our drivers are concerned. We have Massa, who is back with further enthusiasm, we have Alonso I just told you about and then we have Fisichella as the third driver and two very experienced test drivers: Marc Gene and Luca Badoer.”

This year’s DTM season will finish with a street race in Shanghai, the series announced on Thursday.

The German series had been planning a race in the Chinese city for several months, but it had not been expected to form part of the championship.

However, after DTM promoter ITR was unable to find a replacement for Dijon when the French circuit asked to cancel its contract, discussions began in an effort to incorporate the Shanghai race into the calendar.

While the deal has not been finalised yet, the race is scheduled to take place on October 31, two weeks after the second race at Hockenheim, which has hosted every DTM finale since the series was reborn in 2000.

The DTM has raced in Shanghai before. In 2004, the series hosted a non-championship event on a street circuit, with Gary Paffett taking victory for Mercedes.

The only other new addition to the calendar for 2010 is the switching of the Spanish round from Barcelona to Valencia. The Ricardo Tormo circuit will host the second round of the season on May 23.

2010 DTM calendar

Hockenheim          April 25

Valencia            May 23

Lausitz             June 6

Norisring           July 4

Nurburgring         August 8

Zandvoort           August 22

Brands Hatch        September 5

Oschersleben        September 19

Hockenheim          October 17

Shanghai            October 31

Anthony Hamilton is planning to run a fleet of 2009-spec Formula 1 cars in an effort to help young drivers gain mileage in current grand prix cars without being constrained by the testing restrictions, today’s AUTOSPORT reveals.

The father of 2008 world champion Lewis, Hamilton intends to lease year-old cars, along with equipment and personnel, from teams and run them independently in a programme called the GP Prep Drivers Academy.

He has already agreed terms with McLaren for the supply of two cars, and is in advanced talks with other teams.

Hamilton said that the idea was to give young drivers who would otherwise not get a chance to test an F1 car a chance to prove their potential.

“If you look at our sport. drivers are very lucky to make F1, because there’s no career path structure for it,” Hamilton told AUTOSPORT.

“There are guys who don’t get a look in. The idea with GP Prep is to provide more of an opportunity for young drivers to be spotted.”

Costs are still being determined, although it is expected that a day’s testing will require a similar budget to a weekend of racing in a high-level open-wheeler.

Deals are also being finalised with circuits, although it is anticipated that most running will take place in the UK. The programme is expected to be launched in March.

Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson has tipped double World Rally champion Marcus Gronholm for a podium finish when the Finn returns to WRC action on the Swedish Rally next month.

Gronholm will drive for the Stobart VK M-Sport team and has been nominated to score points for the Cumbrian-based squad on the 2010 season opener. Gronholm, who retired from the sport at the end of 2007, made a one-off appearance on last year’s Rally of Portugal, driving a Subaru Impreza WRC.

Wilson said: “I still think that Marcus can be very quick in Sweden. It’s his favourite rally, he’s kept himself in good shape. Okay, he’s probably not as match fit as these other guys but with it being the event that it is, and going into the stages that he’s been in before where the other guys haven’t, I have no doubt he can finish on the podium.”

With the Stobart squad running as a WRC team rather than a fully fledged manufacturer outfit, Gronholm’s car has to be a year behind in terms of homologation, meaning he will drive a 2008-specification Focus.

Wilson continued: “That’s [the Focis RS WRC 08] as much as you can run with an M2 team. But even so, we’re still very confident with that car that Marcus will be able to mix it with the other guys.”