Andretti might drive Honda on US GP Friday

(GMM) Marco Andretti could return to the wheel of Honda's F1 car for practice at the US grand prix in June.

The newspaper Indianapolis Star reports that while the American teenager's private test program has been put on ice, "it is possible" that he might be nominated as a one-off third driver by the Japanese carmaker.

Teams in 2007 are allowed to field a test driver in the newly-structured open Friday practice sessions before grands prix, but Honda will decline to use the opportunity at every event because it means that at least one of the race drivers is sidelined.

IRL racer Andretti's credentials for a future career in F1 are being pushed by the American Honda offshoot, which is no doubt keen to reunite his famous surname with the world of grand prix racing.

Marco's grandfather Mario Andretti won the drivers' world championship in 1978, before his son Michael – Marco's father – launched a failed F1 assault with McLaren in 1993.