Sixteen months after a near-fatal crash, former F1 racer Cristiano da Matta is eyeing a return to racing.
The 34-year-old Brazilian, who contested 28 Grands Prix for Toyota in 2003 and 2004, smashed into a stray deer last August whilst testing his Champ Car in Wisconsin (US).
He incurred a serious head injury, underwent emergency brain surgery, and surprised many medical experts by awaking from a lengthy coma with nearly no ill-effects.
But despite not driving since then under doctors' orders, da Matta was last week spotted at the famous Daytona circuit, where he wandered the garages of the Grand-Am sports car teams, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
He admits that his doctors have told him to delay any plans for a comeback until 2008, "but I told them that the 2008 season is starting here, now, in November of 2007," he smiled.
It is suggested that a closed-cockpit racer would be a safer option for diminutive da Matta, for whom another head injury could have grave consequences.
But he insists that stock cars are simply "where the growth seems to be.
"I don't think it's in (US) open wheel racing now. I've been following the news from my home in Brazil, and it does not look very positive," da Matta added.