Scuderia Ecosse have announced that 1992 Formula One World Champion, Nigel Mansell, will be joining the team for the Silverstone round of the FIA GT Championship, the Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy.

He will drive one of the team’s Ferrari 430 GT2 cars although the precise driver line-up has not yet been announced. This guest appearance is said to have come about because the team heard a rumour that Nigel was considering driving a Ferrari 430 in America and suggested he give it a go a bit closer to home. Nigel joined the team at Knockhill in Scotland on 5 April where he was apparently on the pace. In addition to the Knockhill test, Nigel will be taking part in a Pirelli tyre test at Estoril (24-26 April) prior to the Silverstone race, to complete his preparations.

The vacancy has arisen because regular Scuderia Ecosse driver, Thomas Enge, crashed heavily in the recent ALMS race at St. Petersburg. His left elbow was shattered but after surgery he is happily on the mend and hopes to return to the sport at the Le Mans 24 hours.

Our younger readers may not be aware that Nigel Mansell drove in F1 for Scuderia Ferrari in 1989 and 1990, initially winning the hearts of tifosi by taking a debut win. The emotional Italians soon named him Ill Leone (the Lion), admiring his rugged and determined style. He won another two races for Ferrari but was overshadowed in 1990 by team mate Alain Prost . Mansell retired with gearbox failure at the British GP that year, whereupon he walked back to the pits, dramatically tossing his gloves into the adoring crowd before announcing to a small group of pressmen that he had decided to retire from Formula 1 at the end of the year.

Williams persuaded him to reconsider and he re-joined them in 1991, finally securing the Drivers' Championship with them the following year. He fell out with Williams over cash at the end of the season and again announced his retirement before going into Indy Car (now Champ Car) the following year, taking the 1993 title. A brief return to F1 with Williams at the end of '94 resulted in a win in Australia. He joined McLaren in '95, but the car was initially too small and then too slow for him. He retired from F1 for the third and final time after only two races.

He then largely disappeared from the sport, apart from random appearances behind the wheel and the odd pronouncement, before re-appearing in GP Masters, loudly trumpeting that these were "true" GP cars because of their lack of computerized systems - conveniently forgetting that he won his title in the most computer-aided F1 car of all time! Lately he has been supporting the racing careers of his two sons and is an ambassador for Formula BMW UK.

Mansell has shown little interest in Ferrari since his departure from the Scuderia - one might have wondered whether he'd take a dealership like Surtees did with Honda. Regarding his Silverstone Ferrari return, one is left pondering the only really important question in motor racing - who is paying for it and why? However, there is no doubt that this is a tremendous PR coup for all concerned and should certainly swell the crowds on 6th May...