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Schumacher surprised by his speed

LONDON: Retired world champion Michael Schumacher said he was surprised by his speed after again setting the pace in his second day of testing with Ferrari in Spain on Wednesday.

The 38-year-old German made clear however that there was no chance of him returning to Formula One as a racer after walking away in 2006.

The seven-time world champion recognized that he had experienced some apprehension at returning to the racetrack, saying he had felt "like I did when I was 18", but that had soon subsided.

"Obviously being out for so long raised some question marks for me," Schumacher told reporters at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya after lapping faster than the other 20 drivers present.

Schumacher clocked an unofficial best time of one minute 21.486 seconds, with McLaren's Spanish test driver Pedro de la Rosa second quickest in 1:21.857.

Mansell's sons join Champ Car feeder series

CHICAGO: Greg and Leo Mansell, sons of ex-Formula One world champion Nigel Mansell, are to drive in the feeder series for Champ Cars.

"What a tremendous challenge and adventure we will all have in 2008," Nigel told the official Web site of the Atlantic Series (www.champcaratlantic.com) on Wednesday.

"A fantastic series revisiting some wonderful venues which will bring back such fond memories of when I last raced in Champ Cars. This is a fantastic opportunity for Leo and Greg."

Nigel followed up his Formula One title in 1992 by landing the Champ Car series the following year.

Greg, 20, the younger of the two brothers, finished 10th in the British Formula Three series last year while Leo, 22, was 17th.

Davydenko to lead Russia in Davis Cup final against US

MOSCOW: World No 4 Nikolay Davydenko will lead defending champion Russia in the Davis Cup final against the United States, the team said on Wednesday.

Davydenko, who is playing in this week's season-ending Masters Cup tournament in Shanghai, will be joined by world No 19 Mikhail Youzhny, Igor Andreev (33) and Dmitry Tursunov (34) for the three-day tie that starts on November 30 in Portland.

Russian captain Shamil Tarpishchev decided against calling up the team's charismatic leader, former world No 1 Marat Safin, who has struggled to find his top form since coming back from a knee injury.

Germany's Schweinsteiger to miss Euro qualifiers

BERLIN: Bastian Schweinsteiger will miss Germany's final two Group D qualifying matches for Euro 2008 after suffering a knee injury in training. The midfielder will undergo tests in Munich after complaining of pain in his left knee during the morning session.

Germany, who has already secured its place at Euro 2008, plays Cyprus in Hanover on Saturday and Wales in Frankfurt the following Wednesday.

Coach Joachim Loew received some positive injury news on Wednesday when striker Oliver Neuville and midfielder Tim Borowski returned to training.

Yankees make record pitch for Rivera

NEW YORK: The New York Yankees have made a $45 million offer to keep reliever Mariano Rivera on the team, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The Yankees were waiting for Rivera to respond to a three-year offer that would make him the Major League's highest-paid relief pitcher, the newspaper said on its Web site (www.nytimes.com).

The New York Mets' Billy Wagner currently tops the wage charts for relievers averaging $10.75 million a season.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that it's a tremendous offer for a 38-year-old relief pitcher," Yankees senior vice-president Hank Steinbrenner told the newspaper.

"He'll be, by $4 million, the highest-paid relief pitcher in baseball, by far. I don't know what the hold-up is."

(China Daily 11/16/2007 page23)