France call up veteran Cochet

Regular driver Loic Duval is unavailable due to his Formula Nippon commitments in Japan, so seat holder Olivier Panis has called up 31-year-old Cochet, who drove in practice sessions for the team in the last two rounds in South Africa and Australia.

With such a small gap at the top of the series standings, Panis was eager to get an experienced driver in the car after losing race winner Duval for the last three events of the season.

"We've decided to put our trust in Jonathan," said Panis. "He knows both the car and the team as he's already spent two weekends with us this year.

"The races in Mexico are strategically important as the championship is so tight and the slightest error could be very costly. But we're not going to put any pressure on Jonathan and we'll do our best to make the job easy for him."

Cochet has raced in the LMP1 class of the Le Mans Series for the last two seasons but has previously raced in Formula Three, the Renault World Series, Formula Nippon, and F3000. He has also been Renault F1's demonstration driver in recent years.