Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello has confirmed that he will contest the IndyCar series this season.

After nineteen seasons in Formula One, the popular Brazilian lost his Williams seat to countryman Bruno Senna. With no other viable drives available, Barrichello looked across the Atlantic to IndyCar, even though he had previously said he would not put his family through the worry of contesting a series widely seen as more dangerous that F1, particularly the oval races.

Now, following his successful test with KV Racing Technology, Barrichello has confirmed that he will contest the entire 2012 championship, ovals and all.

"I'm over the moon," he told reporters in a conference call this afternoon. "I felt I wanted to do this straight away.

"When you love what you do, you want to search for new things," he continued. "You have an open mind. With all my experience I will start as a rookie, but I think I will get better as the year progresses.

"I can do different things but I know I can drive well and to be able to become an IndyCar driver at almost age 40 and still be so competitive and physically well. It is a chance that has been given to me after all the years of competitive racing, I still have a lot of speed in myself. I have not reached the peak of my performance yet."

Referring to his wife's apprehension about the series, he said: "One day we were watching an oval race and she looked at me and, said, 'you're never going to do this, are you?'. I said, 'well I don't plan to because I will be racing Formula One forever and then probably stop'. But in the back of my mind, I always wanted to know what is the experience. What goes through the mind of the driver at such a speed."

The season begins at St Petersburg in Florida on March 25, one week after the F1 season gets underway in Melbourne.