MUNICH, Germany -- Five months after making a symbolic return in a Champ Car at the race where he lost both legs in a crash in Germany, Alex Zanardi is planning to make a competitive one-race comeback.

Zanardi will drive a specially designed BMW 320i car at the Oct. 19 FIA European Touring Car Championship race in Monza, Italy, the BMW racing team said Wednesday.

The Italian driver lost both legs in a crash with Alex Tagliani during a CART series race on Sept. 15, 2001. A year and a half later, the popular driver raced 13 ceremonial laps in a specially designed Champ Car at the German 500. The 13 laps represented the number he would have needed to finish the race in which he crashed.

"I escaped death two years ago,'' the former Formula One driver said in the statement released by BMW. "Although the situation was so difficult then, I made it my goal to lead a normal life again.

"Today, I run, I swim, I ski and on Oct. 19 I will complete my vision and compete in a race again,'' Zanardi said.

The car to be driven by Zanardi will have its accelerator and clutch attached to the steering wheel, BMW said.

	Zanardi drove a specially-prepared car in his ceremonial CART return.

There were no plans for Zanardi to race again next year, said BMW spokeswoman Heike Bartsch.

"He wants to see how it feels. If everything goes well, there could be talks in the future about him racing again,'' she said.

After his ceremonial drive at the CART race, Zanardi indicated he might try other forms of racing again in the future.

"This is my answer to the fans who wanted to know why I don't come back to racing," he said last May. "Is it because it's impossible? Or because I don't want to come back? Or because I'm really scared about what happened in my accident?

"The answer is because life goes on and I'm in the process of moving on to other things. Now they (fans) know if I really wanted, I could do it again. Maybe not at this level but a lower level."

Zanardi said at the time he has no plans to return to top class driving but may race "low pressure" events like the Daytona 24-hour race.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.