The BRC Racing Team has announced the signing of former single-seater racer Luca Filippi for the 2019 TCR Europe Series season.

The 33-year-old Italian will make his first foray into touring cars at the wheel of a Hyundai i30 N TCR, and has already sampled the car a number of times during pre-season testing.

Filippi’s debut will come in the season opener at the Hungaroring on the weekend of 27-28 April, when TCR Europe runs alongside the World Touring Car Cup.

“I can’t wait for my first race with the team,” he said. “I believe I have driven every racing car that has passed through the BRC workshop, for different reasons: friendship, curiosity, passion. Starting from Budapest, I can add a further motivation: achieving great sporting satisfaction.

“I found an instinctive feeling with the Hyundai I30 N, as it fits my driving style; I found myself comfortable from the first laps, both with the car and the team. I thank team principal Massimiliano Fissore for offering me this professional opportunity and I will demonstrate my gratitude with facts, starting from Budapest.”

Prior to making the move into touring cars, Filippi – a former F1 test driver with Honda – was a front-runner in GP2 for a number of seasons, taking multiple race wins and finishing second in the standings back in 2011; the same year in which he was runner up in Auto GP.

Four part seasons in IndyCar saw him take a best finish of second in Toronto back in 2015 whilst he also spent a season in Formula E with the Nio team.