Nelson Piquet Jr.

Nelson Piquet Jr., who won the Formula E race in Russia last weekend, will make his Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires debut in Toronto this week with Carlin.

Piquet will fill in for Max Chilton, who is competing for Nissan in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

"I've been competing in a broad range of racing over the past few years and this will be another new experience for me,” Piquet said. “I love open-wheel racing but haven't yet tried it in a U.S.-based series, so Toronto is going to be interesting."

Indy Lights will contest races on June 13 and 14 on the 1.755-mile, 11-turn street circuit at Exhibition Place.

Piquet, of Brazil, is leading the FIA Formula E Championship with five podiums, including two wins. He is also racing in the Global RallyCross Championship, and scored a podium in the season opener two weeks ago.

Piquet joins Ed Jones, who has earned three victories this season and is second to Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ Jack Harvey in the championship standings, in the Carlin lineup.

“In Max’s absence we wanted another strong driver to help push the team forward.” Team principal Trevor Carlin said. “We know that despite having no experience of the Indy Lights car, Nelson will push to the maximum from the start and that’s what we’re looking for this weekend.

“We’ve known Nelson since racing against him when he became British F3 Champion in 2004 and have seen many times since then his outright pace. He’s shown in Formula E he’s a master of street circuits and I’m excited to see what he and Ed can achieve together this weekend.”