Mazzacane to try his hand at Prost.

Gaston Mazzacane is tipped to try his luck in one of Alain Prost's troublesome AP03 chassis today, as he chases a full-time ride in grands prix next year.

The Argentine, who tried an Arrows at Silverstone almost two weeks ago, has made noises about staying at Minardi next season but, with the current mistrust between team bosses and sponsor PSN, is more likely to find employment elsewhere for 2001.

"I do not want to overlook Minardi," Mazzacane insisted after the Silverstone outing, "I would like - and am trying - to continue with Minardi for one more year. It would be important for me to achieve this, but I am waiting to hear from them."

However, with Minardi still pondering an engine supply, and Arrows still looking set to retain the two men who piloted its Supertec-powered machine last season, Mazzacane is casting his attention in Prost's direction in the hope that his financial backing can persuade the veteran team boss to favour money over talent alongside Jean Alesi.

He faces stiff competition, however, with an impressive array of gifted pilots expected to test against him in the coming weeks. Prost gave Sauber refugee Enrique Bernoldi a run at Barcelona yesterday [Wednesday], and is expected to test CART rookie standout Oriol Servia later today. Also in the frame for the second seat are F3000 winners Stephane Sarrazin and Fernando Alonso, and F3 champions Giorgio Pantano and Jonathan Cochet.

Mazzacane is not the only well-backed driver in the running, either, with Bernoldi expected to carry some weight from Red Bull, following company boss Dieter Mateschitz's recent assertion that he is not happy with the way things are run at Sauber.

Bizarrely, if the Argentine does not land a race seat at either Prost or Arrows, he may still get to compete and test - with two different teams. His management team has suggested that, while returning to Minardi, Mazzacane could also test for Arrows next season.