Those people hoping to see former F1 driver Anthony Davidson back behind the wheel could be set for disappointment after two potential opportunites have failed to materialise.
Last week the new Nissan GT-R was unveiled during a test session for the FIA GT championship at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France. It has since tested at Portimao.
NISMO, Nissan’s motorsport division, is working with Gigawave Motorsport to develop the car with the aim of supplying it to privateer entrants from 2010.
It will also be racing this year, including appearances at events at Silverstone in May and at the Spa 24 Hours in July. According to Autosport, Davidson was under consideration for the Spa drive.
But the team – boasting controversial former Ferrari employee Nigel Stepney as its principal – has since announced that Britain’s Darren Turner and Germany’s Michael Krumm will be driving the car.
Similarly, Brawn GP is failing to go along with popular sentiment by naming Davidson as its reserve driver, despite the position only being a notional one and the idea mainly originating with people who thought what a jolly good idea it would be.
The team has not retained the driving services of former Honda tester Alex Wurz, due to the in-season testing ban, and has not named a reserve driver. However, the team says it is still working with Wurz in other roles.
Because Davidson, in his job as BBC Radio’s F1 commentator, is already attending every race, he seems an obvious choice to step in should misfortune befall race drivers Button and Barrichello.
But hard-nosed Brawn GP says it is too busy developing its car to consider the matter – so Davidson’s chances of the kind of fairytale ending currently being lived out by compatriot Jenson Button seem as far off as ever.