PTI

New Delhi, Sep 28: Narain Karthikeyan's career today received a major fillip after he was appointed as 'official test driver' by Williams F1 for 2007.

The Chennai-born Narain will occupy the slot left vacant by Alexander Wurz who got promoted as race driver following the departure of Australian Mark Webber.

Like this year, when he was the second test driver, Narain will be paid by Williams and handsomely at that.

After a roller-coaster debut with Jordan in 2005, which mostly consisted of non-finishes on a ramshackle car, and a season of near to nothing as second test driver this year, this would be the right platform for the 29-year old Coimbatore lad to relaunch his Formula One dreams.

It falls short of being the race driver, but Narain has preferred the hard and long route to success to the easy and short-term option of hitching a ride with a low rung team.

"Naturally as a racing driver, my first priority is to compete. But I would far rather test with a leading team than accept a race seat that offers no real potential to learn and develop," Narain told PTI from his native town.

"The role of official test driver is a much more high profile job than what I did this year for Williams.

"People like Alex Wurz and Pedra de la Rosa have been test drivers for five-six years before becoming race drivers.

"Obviously I don't want to wait that long but your reputation really grows when you are a test driver. And seats with the big teams are limited."