Luca Filippi gets Dale Coyne Racing IndyCar seat for St Petersburg

The 30-year-old Italian contested his first full IndyCar campaign with CFH Racing last season after part-seasons with the Herta and Rahal teams in previous years. A second place in Toronto was his best result.

Filippi tested with Coyne at Phoenix and Sebring in recent weeks, and will now line up alongside confirmed full-season driver Conor Daly for the first round.

"I feel very positive going to St Petersburg," said the 2011 GP2 runner-up and sometime Honda Formula 1 test driver.

"First of all, Honda have done a good job in providing us with an improved aero kit and more power. I think it will be very competitive between all the teams.

"I see that Dale Coyne Racing is really motivated to boost the level of the team even more this year, and I think that with myself and Conor we have a good combination and I think we could really get strong results."

Coyne intends to run two cars for the full 2016 season and four at the Indianapolis 500.

Bryan Clauson has been confirmed for one of the additional Indy entrants, with team regular Pippa Mann likely to take the other.