The Austrian TV broadcaster, ORF, is reporting that Alexander Wurz has joined WilliamsF1 as third and test driver.

The Austrian, who has been a test driver with McLaren since 2001, is known to have been seeking a race seat for 2006, with many tipping a possible move to BMW. Although the decision to retain Jacques Villeneuve put paid to the BMW move, Wurz continued to be linked with several other teams, and consequently stalled on signing a new test contract with the Woking outfit.

When announcing the signing of DTM Champion, Gary Paffett, McLaren admitted that it was still in "discussions" with the Austrian and would announce its plans in due course.

ORF claims that Wurz' contract with WilliamsF1 - though officially unconfirmed by either the driver or the team - is for the role of test driver "at least", which leads suggests that both parties are already looking ahead to 2007, when the Grove outfit is rumoured to be using Toyota powerplants.

Wurz made a dramatic entry to F1 in 1997, following a win in the Le Mans 24-hours, however, over the next couple of years he rarely impressed.

However, deputising for Juan Pablo Montoya in this year's San Marino Grand Prix, the 31-year-old demonstrated that he had lost none of his fire, finishing a strong third, behind Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher.

If Wurz has indeed signed, this will end Narain Karthikeyan's hopes of the WilliamsF1 test role.