Aspiring Italian star Alessandro Piccolo will make his FIA F3000 debut at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya this weekend, having been called up by new team BCN Competicion to replace hapless countryman Valerio Scassellati.

The Euro F3000 regular will team up with the team's other late pre-season signing, Australian Rob Nguyen, for what is BCN's home event.

Although the team's introduction to the FIA series, after it bought up the assets of former champions Nordic Racing, has not always been smooth, Nguyen managed to come through the pack to score a point on its debut at Imola two weeks ago.

In Piccolo, the Australian second-year racer will have a more proven team-mate than previously, with the Italian taking successive fifth and fourth places overall in the Euro F3000 series. Running with GP Racing and EuroNova in 2002, Piccolo scored a win at Enna and also took one pole and a fastest lap on his way to 28 points and a spot in the final standings behind Jaime Melo, Romain Dumas and Jaroslav Janis. Interestingly, it is only the third of these who he will face at Montmelo this weekend, with Melo having opted not to return to the FIA series in exchange for a Renault V6 place and Dumas having moved to the Toyota Atlantic series in the USA.

Piccolo has no FIA F3000 race experience, but tested promisingly for Coloni Motorsport over the winter.