From GMM
After dropping out of contention for the final 2011 race cockpit at HRT, Valsecchi could be a test driver alongside young Brazilian Luiz Razia, who was with the Virgin team in 2010, at Team Lotus.
The Italian website 422race.com claims the 24-year-old Italian, who has raced in GP2 in the last few years and impressed F1 chiefs with his pace at the Abu Dhabi test last November, will get a half-day of testing with Lotus at the Bahrain test in March.
He would then probably get two outings on the Friday mornings of the Australian and Malaysian grands prix and Razia, another GP2 driver, would do as many as "five Friday free practice" sessions.
Meanwhile, Vitantonio Liuzzi, who was left out of Force India despite a contract for this year, is reportedly working hard to secure for the last vacant race seat on the 2011 grid.
Spain's Diario AS says Liuzzi's manager Peter Collins, who is a former boss of the original Lotus team, is working to compile a budget in order to secure the second HRT race seat for Liuzzi alongside Narain Karthikeyan.
It has been rumoured that Liuzzi's HRT budget could include money from Force India as part of a contract settlement which was reportedly "not yet finalised" by the time Paul di Resta was named officially this week as his successor.
AS also reported on Thursday that Pedro de la Rosa is on the verge of signing to return to McLaren in 2011 as reserve driver but now claims that the British team is in fact heading towards relying only on Gary Paffett for the third role this season.
After dropping out of contention for the final 2011 race cockpit at HRT, Valsecchi could be a test driver alongside young Brazilian Luiz Razia, who was with the Virgin team in 2010, at Team Lotus.
The Italian website 422race.com claims the 24-year-old Italian, who has raced in GP2 in the last few years and impressed F1 chiefs with his pace at the Abu Dhabi test last November, will get a half-day of testing with Lotus at the Bahrain test in March.
He would then probably get two outings on the Friday mornings of the Australian and Malaysian grands prix and Razia, another GP2 driver, would do as many as "five Friday free practice" sessions.
Meanwhile, Vitantonio Liuzzi, who was left out of Force India despite a contract for this year, is reportedly working hard to secure for the last vacant race seat on the 2011 grid.
Spain's Diario AS says Liuzzi's manager Peter Collins, who is a former boss of the original Lotus team, is working to compile a budget in order to secure the second HRT race seat for Liuzzi alongside Narain Karthikeyan.
It has been rumoured that Liuzzi's HRT budget could include money from Force India as part of a contract settlement which was reportedly "not yet finalised" by the time Paul di Resta was named officially this week as his successor.
AS also reported on Thursday that Pedro de la Rosa is on the verge of signing to return to McLaren in 2011 as reserve driver but now claims that the British team is in fact heading towards relying only on Gary Paffett for the third role this season.