The 42-year-old had both legs amputated after a crash while racing in the Champ Car series in Germany in 2001.
He returned to motorsport two years later and competed this year in the World Touring Car Championship but he has also taken up handcycling.
He was 15th in Thursday's individual time trial at the Para-Cycling Road World Championships in Italy.
Zanardi's time of 33 minutes, 55.19 seconds over the 19.4km course was 4.45 behind the clear winner Oz Sanchez from the USA, who won gold in Beijing, but he finished just one place below his Italian compatriot Giovanni Achenza.
Most handcycles resemble tricycles and are propelled by athletes using their upper body rather than their legs.
The former Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams driver was fourth on his handcycling debut in the 2007 New York Marathon after just four weeks of training and harbours hopes of competing in London in 2012.
Before Thursday's race he told his official website: "My honest objective is to be at the level of the best Italian bikers and to finish in the top half of the classification, waiting for a dream that could come true in London in 2012."
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