Gunther finished third in European F3 this season, winning five races for the Prema team, and dovetailed that campaign with a role as Mercedes’ reserve driver in the DTM.

He also performed ‘taxi’ duties for the manufacturer this year after testing at Jerez at the end of 2016, and returned to the young driver test at the Lausitzring after the 2017 season as well.

It's understood he is not under consideration for a full-time DTM drive in 2018, although he could be a candidate to replace either Edoardo Mortara or Maro Engel in May's Lausitz race, which clashes with the Berlin ePrix.

Gunther, who has also tested F2 and Super Formula machinery this winter, will take over Neel Jani’s #6 Penske EV-2 in FE’s post-race rookie test in Morocco on January 14.

He will join Blancpain Endurance Series champion and Lexus Super GT frontrunner Andrea Caldarelli, who will drive Jerome d’Ambrosio’s #7 car.

Renault e.dams will field Nissan's Japanese Formula 3 champion Mitsunori Takaboshi in the Marrakesh test, with F2 racer Alexander Albon linked to the team as well.

Porsche's Frederic Makowiecki and Lexus Super GT frontrunner James Rossiter will test for Techeetah, while Andretti will field Colton Herta and BMW DTM ace Bruno Spengler.

Audi has picked its own DTM driver Nico Muller and McLaren-supported F2 racer Nyck de Vries.

Formula Renault Northern European Cup champion Michael Benyahia will drive for Venturi and Mahindra will field Sam Dejonghe and Dani Juncadella.

F2 racer Jordan King and Formula V8 3.5 champion Pietro Fittipaldi have also been linked with drives in the test.