Unless you are an avid fan of all kinds of motorsports, it is unlikely you have heard much about Ralph Firman before he was announced as Jordan's second driver for the 2003 season. Yet the 27-year old Briton can boast having beaten some of the biggest names in motor racing, including Montoya and da Matta. Atlas F1's Will Gray talks to Firman ahead of his Grand Prix debut, and recounts the Briton's somewhat unusual route to get to Formula One

Eddie Irvine may still be reeling from his failure to secure the Jordan drive this year but little did he know that his past history would point the way for former boss Eddie Jordan to find his latest steed.

Virtual unknown Ralph Firman won the race for a place in the cockpit of the Silverstone-based team's 2003 yellow machine last week to end the nine-season career of former Jordan, Ferrari and Jaguar man Irvine. Anglo-Irish racer Firman tested a Formula One car for the first time in 1996, for McLaren, but disappeared from the headlines until a run in a BAR-Honda last year. He almost became a forgotten man.

But Eddie Jordan never forgets a top-class performer. He had his eye on him, and although it was a chance meeting with Firman in a sunglasses store that led the team chief to re-open discussions over his future, he had been monitoring his progress all along.

Firman, whose father Ralph senior found motorsport fame through running Van Diemen Formula Ford cars for the to-be rich and famous stars of both current and past eras, could be the latest in a growing list of surprise Jordan stars. Like all top racers starting out in Britain, Firman won the Formula Vauxhall Junior championship in 1993, and added the McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year to his CV three years later.

That year he also claimed the British Formula Three title, with Paul Stewart Racing and, in doing so, topped an impressive list of drivers including Williams star Juan Pablo Montoya, Toyota newcomer Cristiano da Matta and IRL ace Helio Castroneves.

If that was not enough, the Norfolk-born Firman, 21 at the time, headed to the famously difficult street course of Macau in the Far East and beat future Formula One stars Jarno Trulli, Pedro de la Rosa and Nick Heidfeld to race victory. It was clear he meant business.

But he had little backing to continue his rise up the ladder and despite having the Formula Three title in the bag, his sponsorship was not great enough to seal a Formula 3000 drive. So he packed his bags for Japan, and risked a life away from the Formula One limelight.

The scenario rings bells with retiring Ulsterman Irvine and, as he sits back in Miami this winter pondering a disappointing end to his Formula One career, he must be wearing a strained smile for Firman - because the 27-year-old has just followed in his footsteps almost to the decade.

Irvine, who made his Formula One debut for Jordan at the Japanese Grand Prix in 1993, the penultimate race of that season, joined the team straight after claiming second place in the same Formula Nippon series that Firman won this year. And he did it at the age of 27.

So, Firman and Jordan have strong cause to be hopeful of a bright future if four-time Grand Prix winner Irvine's story, which included three years in Japan, is anything to go by.

Q: This is a great time to come out of the wilderness, isn't it?

RF: There is no better time to be in Formula One. Now I have got the opportunity I am more mature and more prepared for all the pressures around Formula One. The way Formula One is, it has lots of media attraction. This is the pinnacle of motorsport and it is where most drivers aim to get to, so at the moment I am just glad I can accomplish my dream of racing in Formula One.

Q: In the lower Formulae you raced against Montoya. What are your feelings about coming up against him again?

RF: I beat him then, I was out to win the championship, and I am looking forward to racing with him. He is a great character and a tremendous driver so I am looking forward to racing him.

Q: Montoya stayed in Europe and you went to Japan, from where lots of drivers had joined Formula One before. Was that a forced move?

RF: Well, they had the money to race in Europe but I didn't. The trend changed from drivers coming from Japan to coming from European 3000 as the races were always with Formula One.

Q: So did it make you angry you had to go to Japan and join an uncompetitive team when all eyes were on Europe?

RF: No. It made me more determined to get to Formula One. I beat all those drivers before and I always believed: there is no reason I can't do it again. Japan has cost me five years, but the experience I have gained racing powerful racing cars is going to be valuable in Formula One. When I was driving for G-Force we change aerodynamics, tyres and suspension every weekend so I have done a great deal more than anyone would be able to do racing in Europe and that is going to help a lot.

Q: With a father so famous in motorsport, were you always pushed towards becoming a racing driver?

RF: No! I was basically kept away from motorsport a lot but it was really just the Formula Ford festival I looked forward to every year, standing in the freezing cold at Brands Hatch and watching that race. My parents have supported me all the way through my career and they are delighted - every family would be delighted their son has made it.

Q: So, how did your career begin?

RF: I was always surrounded by motorsport with my family being so heavily involved in manufacturing racing cars. It was really when I started go-karting at 10 years old that it started a real interest.

Q: And you were surrounded by up-and-coming racing drivers all the time?

RF: Especially when I was younger. My family knew the drivers a lot better 15-20 years ago than maybe nowadays. Everyone who drove for us used to come and live locally and end up around the house with us having dinner, but it is different now.

Q: When did you first get a taste of Grand Prix action?

RF: I went to Silverstone, can't remember what year it was, but it was when they had the old Bridge, which was quicker and absolutely incredible. I went to watch qualifying there, I must have been seven or eight years old. It was when Senna and Mansell were racing.

Q: That must have been just before you went to Japan. Was it tough to leave Europe behind?

RF: You take the best opportunity at the time and it goes the way it goes. I went out to win the championship and that is what I achieved. It is very hard. You have to just knuckle down and make yourself more determined. When you are not winning it is the worst sport in the world but when you are it is the greatest.

In recent years the trend of driver recruitment in Formula One has turned from selecting a blend of youth and experience. Now, it seems, the requirement is to snap up young talent from an early age. Firman, then, seems to go against the grain.

Young Brazilian Felipe Massa, 21, became one of the youngest drivers in Formula One last year when he signed for Sauber and, despite a season of erratic pace, he was seen as the main contender for the Jordan drive this year until dealings with potential Brazilian backers broke down.

Financial gains, of course, were the main focus for Jordan's second driver this season, and ultimately that is what determined who would partner Italian ace Giancarlo Fisichella in 2003. But there were plenty of contenders to fit the bill and Firman nipped through the door to take the place.

Massa proved last year that maybe more experience is needed to succeed at the highest level and Jordan believes Firman, who could have shot into Formula One at an early age before his life took a different route, is now the perfect example of developed youth.

Jordan has run four former Formula Nippon drivers in Formula One during his 13 years on the grid, with Irvine and German pair Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher joining as race drivers and Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa as a tester. Firman is now the fifth - and his six years in the Japanese category, which he finally won last year, could just present him with a Formula One future as rosy as the rest.

Q: So, how well prepared are you for Formula One?

RF: I have been training very hard over the winter in case this opportunity came along and it has done. Cycling, rowing, swimming, training with a trainer. You do a number of things depending on where you are in the country. I love keeping fit, I always have done. I have been working hard on my neck to build the muscles up.

Q: And when will you know if that is enough?

RF: Testing at Barcelona will be tough, it is one of the most physical circuits in the world, so after four days around there if you are not ready for it then you are not going to be ready for anything.

Q: The extra testing at each Grand Prix is going to really play into your hands isn't it?

RF: Two hours extra will be a massive advantage for the team and I am looking forward to the one-lap qualifying because it suits me perfectly. The package is great, we have great reliability and that is going to be good for the first four races especially. If I drive the way I have always driven I will be fine.

Q: Are there going to be any special weekends on the calendar?

RF: The home Grand Prix is always special, so I will be looking forward to Silverstone. Then after that Monaco because it has a lot of history and Japan because I know the track inside out and I have a lot of support there.

Q: And what are your targets?

RF: I don't know exactly what targets you set yourself until you get to the first race. You don't know where you will be, but the target of the team and myself is to score points every weekend.

Firman will not be out to replicate the headline-grabbing debut of Irvine, who was punched by Ayrton Senna after his first race, but if he can replicate the Ulsterman's sixth place finish he will be a very happy man.

It was Firman's father, in fact, who gave Irvine the career boost he needed when he was on his uppers in Formula Ford. He gave him a works drive for a cut-price deal and Irvine showed his talent. Now, because of a lack of money once again, he has inadvertently re-paid that favour.

Irvine has earned millions from his top-level drives in Formula One, something that Firman, who is rumoured to be paid just £5,000 per race this season, can only dream about. But he could not offer any personal sponsors to help a team in a difficult financial position.

Firman, on the other hand, not only pleased Jordan's current top sponsor Benson and Hedges as well as other backers Brother and Domovo, but according to sources at the team he has also brought links to significant backers which could raise their budget significantly. And on top of all that, he is a decent racing prospect.

His first day of testing, in Valencia on Monday, saw him finish .5 of a second slower than former Nippon title winner and Jordan driver Ralf Schumacher, of Williams-BMW, and his controlled approach drew praise from his team. He has already got to know the team back at base, having walked around the factory with his race engineer on the day before his signing was revealed to the world. And he left a good impression there too.

"Eddie has kept an eye on him for quite a while," said one source at the team. "He went to Japan with some uncompetitive teams and had a tough time, but I think that just challenged his character and made him stronger. Anyone who is a youngster and packs everything up to head to Japan to build a new life must gain something from that and he has a 'head down, plug away' attitude. He is a decent guy, cool, calm, focussed. He doesn't flap at all."

But so far he has not yet had reason to flap. He has been cushioned from the pressure in Japan. Formula One is a different world. Firman will not get five years to get it right in Grand Prix racing. He will get just one. He has signed on a three-year deal, but so had Japanese youngster Takuma Sato, who joined Jordan after doing the opposite to Firman by choosing the European route to Formula One but was dropped after an erratic season last year.

But then, Irvine was only signed for a race. He came sixth and the rest is history. He almost became World Champion. Now, for Firman, the future is there for the taking.