The Australian, who took the 1980 F1 title with Williams, will be behind the wheel in the proposed Grand Prix Masters series and also masterminding the Australian effort in the A1 GP series.

Not too many details have emerged about the proposed Grand Prix Masters series which is designed to pitch former top-level drivers who have been out of single seater racing for at least two years in identical Zytek designed cars.

Despite the fact that he is now fifty-eight years old, Jones is excited at the prospect as he explains in a column in Australia's Motorsport News. “My first and foremost love always has been, and always will be, single-seater racing cars,” says Jones. “I have missed participating in motorsport; it is a hard bug to get rid of.”

The other position that Jones will take next year is heading-up the Australian effort for the A1 GP. Jones was asked to take this role and reckons the series has a good future. “It is heavily backed by Sheik Maktoum Hasher Maktoum al Maktoum and he is determined to make sure it is a success,” explains Jones in the magazine. “He has the backing to finance this for the first three of four years but that is not going to be necessary.”

“This is going to be really big,” he predicts. “I believe that the first race looks like South Africa or England next September.”

The former Australian F1 Champ isn't the only family member making motorsports news this week. Son Christian tested the TOM'S Asia Dallara 302 car at the Batangas (Philippines) Race Circuit to get up to speed for his Asian Formula Three supported drive for TME in the Macau F3 Grand Prix

Jones will drive the TME Dallara supported by the Asian Formula Three Corporation, Cebu Pacific Airline and Hanjin Philippines. Jones races a Dallara 301 car in the Asian Formula Three Series whilst the TME car he will drive in Macau is a 304 model which sports a sequential gearbox compared to the "H" pattern box on his current vehicle.

The TOM'S Asia car currently raced by Enzo Pastor was available for Jones to sample the sequential gearbox. "Every little helps in the preparation for this race" said Team Manager Jem Jacinto. Practice for the Macau GP starts this Thursday, November 18th.

Current Entry List for the 51^st running of the MGP are three 2004 champions - Nelson Angelo Piquet (British F3 Champ and son of Nelson Piquet), Jamie Green (EURO F3 Champ) and Ronnie Quintarelli (Japan F3 Champ) - with potential title-winners - Matteo Cressoni and Christian Jones.(Jones trails Ireland's John O'Hara by 3 points in AF3) Four Macau natives are also on the list, with Rodolfo Avila making his F3 debut with Carlin Motorsport.

1. Giedo van der Garde Opel Signature Dallara-Opel
2. Loic Duval Opel Signature Dallara-Opel
3. James Rossiter Opel Signature Dallara-Opel
4. Ronnie Quintarelli Inging Dallara-Toyota
5. Naoki Yokomizo Inging Dallara-Toyota
6. Nico Rosberg Team Rosberg Dallara-Opel
7. Nelson Piquet Jr Piquet Sports Dallara-Mugen
8. Jamie Green ASM Formule 3 Dallara-Mercedes
9. Alexandre Premat ASM Formule 3 Dallara-Mercedes
10. Eric Salignon ASM Formule 3 Dallara-Mercedes
11. Adam Carroll Menu Motorsport Dallara-Opel
12. Fairuz Fauzy Menu Motorsport Dallara-Opel
14. Franck Perera Prema Powerteam Dallara-Opel
15. Katsuyuki Hiranaka Prema Powerteam Dallara-Opel
16. Matteo Cressoni Ombra SRL Dallara-Mugen
17. Lei Kit Meng Ombra SRL Dallara-Mugen
18. Alvaro Parente Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen
19. Danilo Dirani Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen
20. Rodolfo Avila Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Mugen
21. Daniel la Rosa Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes
22. Robert Kubica Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes
23. Richard Antinucci TOM's Dallara-Toyota
24. Kazuki Nakajima TOM's Dallara-Toyota
25. Danny Watts Hitech Racing Dallara-Renault
26. Lucas di Grassi Hitech Racing Dallara-Renault
27. Marko Asmer Hitech Racing Dallara-Renault
28. Christian Jones TME Racing Dallara-Toyota
29. Michael Ho TME Racing Dallara-Toyota
30. Fabio Carbone Three Bond Racing Dallara-Nissan
31. Jo Merszei Swiss Racing Team Dallara-Opel
32. Daisuke Ikeda Swiss Racing Team Dallara-Opel

The Macau F3 Grand Prix has an illustrious list of previous winners including: Ayrton Senna '83, David Brabham '89, Michael Schumacher '90, David Coulthard '91, Ralph Schumacher '95, and Takuma Sato '01.

Cross posted @ Full Throttle