Indian driver Karun Chandhok has announced that he has secured a drive in the all new Formula Asia Renault V6 series, which kicks off at the Sepang F1 circuit next weekend.

Chandhok, who previously competed in F3 and was part of the Indian team for the inaugural A1GP season, will drive for the Korean based E-Rain Racing team, and will be backed by Scottish and Newcastle and Amaron as well as long time principle sponsors JK Tyre.

"After looking at all the options over the last six months, I felt that this new series will be a good step for me to do well and form a long term association with Renault who are one of the major players in world Motorsport today," Chandhok said. "I have a very good equation with the people at Renault Sport in France and I have to thank them for the big effort they made to get me in the driving seat here in Asia."

The Renault V6 series will be the headline event of the Asian Festival of Speed and has now become the premier category of single-seater racing in Asia, with the cars powered by 3500cc Renault V6 engines, producing an impressive 375bhp and capable of speeds of close to 300kph. The championship will run at Sepang in Malaysia, Zhuhai in China, Sentul in Indonesia and at Taichung in Taiwan with a possibility of another race in Bahrain.