Turn 20 of the Circuit of The Americas will be renamed in honour of 1978 World Drivers’ Champion Mario Andretti.

Going forward, the last on the track will be known as ‘The Andretti’, COTA has announced.

A naming ceremony will take place this Thursday (local time), the day before track activity commences at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.

Andretti is not only an ambassador for COTA, who drove the first ever lap of the Texas venue when it opened in 2012, but a decorated driver across multiple categories.

The American won a dozen F1 grands prix, including six in his championship-winning season, plus four titles at the top level of North American open-wheeler racing, and an Indianapolis 500 winner.

In NASCAR, he is a Daytona 500 winner, and won his class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995.

Until the final event of this year’s IndyCar Series, he was also the most prolific pole-sitter in that arena, and personally congratulated Will Power when the Australian broke his record of 67 at Laguna Seca.

Andretti is also third all-time in terms of top-level North American open-wheeler race wins with 52 to his name.

Practice 1 at COTA starts on Friday at 14:00 local time/Friday at 20:00 BST/Saturday at 06:00 AEDT.