Franchitti launches his latest Champ Car challenge in Mexico on Friday, hoping to finally emulate Nigel Mansell's title-winning success of 1993.

The Scot is still keen to try his luck in Formula One having tested for Jaguar Racing last year.

Jaguar boss Bobby Rahal has warned Franchitti that unless he secures a drive this year he can probably forget about following the lead of ex-Champ Car star Juan Pablo Montoya who made his Williams debut in Australia last weekend.

"He is still young enough, but if he is going to come here with any team, it has to be this year."

Franchitti looked set to sign with Jaguar for the start of this season before a disappointing test with them last summer put paid to that.

Jaguar's then-test driver Luciano Burti proved quicker and was signed as Johnny Herbert's replacement, although Franchitti's highly-publicised two days in the car came at a difficult time for the struggling outfit.

"The team was in no condition at the time to run a test for me," said the Edinburgh-born racer.

"They had their own fires to put out. They didn't do me any favours by putting me out there and then not being able to give me a full run at it.

"It was nice of them to offer the test, but I think it would have been better to have been conducted at another time."

Title rivals

But Franchitti's main focus this weekend is the opening round of the 21-race Champ Car championship which will also include races at the new Rockingham Oval in Britain and Germany for the first time.

Franchitti had a disappointing season last year after finishing second to Montoya the year before, but is relishing the start of the campaign after some impressive times in his Team KOOL Green car.

"I always look forward to the start of the season but I honestly can't recall being this anxious to get back in the car and go racing," he admitted.

"I feel we should hit the track in Mexico in full stride ready to challenge for the pole and race win. This is a very important season for myself and everyone at KOOL Green.

"I worked very hard in the off-season to get prepared both mentally and physically and there are a lot of people who've worked really hard to put this team in a position to win races and the championship."

Franchitti's biggest rivals are likely to be team-mate Paul Tracy, defending champion Gil de Ferran, who won a five-man shoot-out in the final race, and former F1 driver Alex Zanardi.

The Italian is returning to Champ Cars after winning back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998 but then failing to win a point with Williams the following year.