Kubica back behind the wheel after horrendous crash

It has been the trend for drivers departing F1 to enter some other road-racing series, with endurance racing, DTM, IndyCar and NASCAR the popular destinations. Kimi Rikknen went the other direction, leaving Ferrari for a stint with the development class of the Citron rally team, and former F1 driver Robert Kubica might be doing something similar. Kubica, remember, suffered career-halting injuries in a crash during the Ronde di Andora rally in early 2011 and hasn't been back in an F1 cockpit since.

While ex-rally punter Rikknen has taken Kubica's place as the top driver at Lotus/Renault F1 team, reports are that Kubica has been testing rally cars, including spending a day with the Ford World Rally Championship team and its drivers at a private test in France. Autosport reports that Kubica rented a Fiesta RS WRC car on his own before the outing with Ford, and a source told the magazine that Kubica "drove the car well."

The Ford WRC team won't even admit that Kubica was there (we had to use of Ken Block competing in France last year), so we wouldn't classify his return as imminent. But it's a good sign, and we'd just like to see him in a cockpit again, in some series, soon.