Christian Klien remains confident of returning to racing in 2008 and is continuing with his discussions regarding opportunities both inside and outside Formula One as he develops plans for the new racing season.

The 24 year old from Hohenems in Austria was one of the drivers strongly considered by the Force India F1 team for 2008 following pre-Christmas testing in Jerez during which, he produced fastest overall time.

Following Force India F1's announcement today of its driver line-up for the season, Christian remains in confident form and thanked the team for including him within their test programme last year.

"I would like to thank Force India F1 for providing me with the testing opportunities in Barcelona and Jerez. It was a very satisfying experience and the team did a really good job. I was happy to be fastest in Jerez and feel I worked very well with the team .There was intense competition for the remaining race seat beside Adrian Sutil and that was my goal after a season as test and reserve driver for the Honda Racing F1 Team.

Looking to the future, Christian is pursuing a number of racing options. "Obviously my first choice remains Formula One. It is important to me, however, to keep my race skills fully exercised. Therefore, I have been considering other options for the 2008 season. There are good opportunities outside of Formula One, that I want to explore and I am very much looking forward to developments in the coming weeks."