WEC: Berthon gets Lotus LMP1 chance

GP2 racer Nathanael Berthon is graduating to the LMP1 ranks in the World Endurance Championship with the German Lotus squad after taking his first sportscar steps in LMP2 this year.

The 25-year-old Frenchman, who raced in LMP2 at the Le Mans 24 Hours and in two European Le Mans Series rounds with the Murphy Prototypes squad, will race the Lotus team's CLM-AER P1/01 on a one-off basis in the Bahrain WEC round on November 15.

Berthon is also contesting his third season of GP2 with Lazarus in 2014. He will share the Lotus CLM in Bahrain with team regular Pierre Kaffer and another GP2 racer making his P1 debut, Simon Trummer.

"Obviously P1 has to be the goal after my first year in P2 and I am very happy that Lotus has given me this opportunity for Bahrain," said Berthon. "I don't know about next year: I will see what is the best opportunity and if endurance racing gives me that, I will take it," he said.

GT LINEUP CHANGES

Aston Martin Racing has replaced Darryl O'Young, who will be contesting the Macau GT Cup event on the same weekend as the Bahrain, with Saudi Abdulaziz Al Faisal, who has raced at the Le Mans 24 Hours on three occasions.

The AF Corse Ferrari vacated by Luis Perez Companc and team-mates Marco Cioci and Mirko Venturi will be raced in Bahrain by Alexander Talkanitsa, who has driven an AF-managed entry run under the AT Racing banner in the ELMS this season.

The Belarusian will be joined by Alessandro Pierguidi and American Jeff Segal, who raced the AF-run 8Star entry at the Austin and Fuji WEC rounds.

Originally on Autosport.com