Frenchman Franck Perera will make his ChampCar test debut at Houston this week.

Perera, 23, a former Toyota Formula One test driver, will drive for the newly merged Forsythe/Pettit team, formed after Dan Pettit wound up the RuSPORT squad last week.

"We are happy to give Franck the opportunity to drive the Champ Car. It gives us a chance to evaluate him and at the same time help the team with some testing items," said Neil Mickelwright, the team's vice president.

Perera, the Italian Formula Renault champion in 2003, saw his career hit when he failed to win in either the Formula Three Euroseries or the GP2 Series, although he did finish second at Monaco in the latter championship.

But he re-gained some much-needed momentum this year with a switch to the US-based ChampCar Atlantic series, which saw him finish second in his rookie season with three wins to his name.

Jamie O'Leary / Eurosport