Badoer targets Valencia finish.

Byline: Jamie Strickland

LUCA Badoer is refusing to set himself any lofty targets for his comeback race at this weekend's European Grand Prix at Valencia.

The 38-year-old Italian will realise a dream in tomorrow's first practice session at the street circuit when he gets behind the wheel of a Ferrari as a race driver for the first time.

Badoer's chance to impress came in the wake of the fractured skull suffered by Felipe Massa in qualifying for last month's Hungarian Grand Prix, and Michael Schumacher's sub-sequenwithdrawal as the Brazilian's replacement due to a neck injury.

While Badoer has only been confirmed as Massa's replacement for this weekend's race, it stands to reason that should he bring the car home well up the order come Sunday afternoon, he could well retain the seat for the rest of the campaign.

Two days behind the wheel of Ferrari's F60 for promotional purposes earlier this week was sufficient to whet Badoer's appetite ahead of his first grand prix since Suzuka 1999.

On the grid ten years ago were the likes of Schumacher, Hill, Villeneuve, Alesi and Hakkinen, and Badoer is now ready to mix it with a new gen-eratioof grand prix stars. "These 200 kilometres were absolutely insignificant from a technical point of view, but they allowed me to get to know the car again," Badoer said of the two-day session at Ferrari's private test facility at Fiorano.

"I have a good impression and it's obvious that there's a difficult task waiting for me at Valencia: the first race will help me to get back into the rhythm of a Formula 1 weekend. I haven't set myself any goals, just to end the race."

While Schumacher will not be driving this weekend, he will be with Ferrari in his usual consultancy capacity.

CAPTION(S):

Challenge: Luca Badoer.