Giovanardi in Curitiba one-off return

The Italian, who moved to the British Touring Car Championship with Vauxhall this year, will substitute for Pierre-Yves Corthals in JAS' independent Honda Accord.

"It was planned that Pierre-Yves would not have raced in the non-European events," JAS team manager Alessandro Mariani told SportAutoMoto. "He will be back in the car at Brno and will race in the second part of the season.

"Despite the fact that Fabrizio won't have the chance to try out the car before the race, I'm sure his capabilities and his enormous experience will allow him to bring the car in the top half of the grid."

Giovanardi is available for the Curitiba event because it coincides with the BTCC's early summer break.

"I'm really happy," said former European Touring Car champion Giovanardi. "To be back in the WTCC is a great opportunity.

"The Accord and JAS are certainly competitive and I can't wait to be back to battle against my old adversaries."

Corthals will also miss the following round at Puebla, where JAS proved extremely competitive in 2005, with former driver Roberto Colciago taking outright pole position before receiving a grid penalty for a previous driving infringement.

As Puebla clashes with a BTCC meeting at Croft, Giovanardi will not be available.

"We have time to decide," said Mariani. "We are evaluating a couple of options and we would like to repeat last year's performance."