Aurelian Panis will swap single-seaters for tin-tops in 2017 after being announced as joining the Zengo Motorspo💧rt World Touring Car Championship team.

The Frenchman - son of former F1 driver Olivier Panis - was a race winner in the Formula V8 3.5 Championship last season but will adopt a new challenge this season as he looks to make a name for himself in closed-co🔯c🌟kpit competition.

For 2017, he will join the Hungarian 🌱Zengo Motorsport team to drive a Honda Civic but will race with the added pressure of knowing his father will also be giving an opinion on his exploits from the Eurosport France commentary box.

"I🃏'm very proud to join the WTCC," said Panis. "It is a very strong international championship and a great step in my career. There are many experienced and successful drivers in the series so it will be a very exciting and tough challenge for me; I had better roll up my sleeves from day one. I'm proud to drive for a great team like Zeng Motorsport, which has won races in the past, and I am very honoured to join the Honda Racing Family."

"Everything will be new for me this seaso♉n and the goal will be to learn and gain experience quickly, in order to be able to fight at the top as soon as possible. I take this opportunity to thank my personal sponsors for their ongoing support and my manager, Didier Coton, for a job well done. I'm looking forward to starting the season and I hope my father has some good things to say about me when commentating on the WTCC on Eurosport France!"

Zengo has enjoyed success in WTCC🍎 over the years as a long-time partner of race winner Norber꧟t Michelisz, but struggled for form in 2016 running Hungarian youngsters Ferenc Ficza and Daniel Nagy.