Van Gisbergen joins McLaren GT squad

V8 Supercars star Shane Van Gisbergen has joined McLaren's roster of factory GT drivers for 2015.

The New Zealander, who was last year's V8 Supercars series runner-up with the Tekno Holden team, is the second new addition to McLaren GT's line-up this year after Bruno Senna and joins the Brazilian, Alvaro Parente, Rob Bell and Kevin Estre on the British manufacturer's books.

"Shane has been impressive every time he's been in one of our cars," McLaren GT team principal Andrew Kirkaldy told AUTOSPORT. "I drove with him at Bathurst [in the 12 Hours] last year and he'd done next to nothing in the car beforehand, but he was immediately the quickest car on the track and people barely got near his time over the rest of the weekend.

"Shane was also quick in the little time he got at the Spa 24 Hours last year in the VonRyan car [which went out of the race before he could drive]."

No program has been announced by McLaren for van Gisbergen, 25, but it is expected that he will join his fellow works drivers in an attack on the Blancpain Endurance Series by the VonRyan Racing team with a pair of new 650S GT3s. That would mean he would have to miss the Paul Ricard round in June, because it clashes with the V8 event at the Hidden Valley Raceway near Darwin.

Van Gisbergen outlined his desire to do more international sports car racing on his first appearance in Europe at Spa last July. He has contested the past two Daytona 24 Hours, finishing second in the GT Daytona class with the Alex Job Porsche team this year at the Rolex 24.

Last week, V8 Supercars' leading team Triple Eight announced that it would expand to a three-car lineup for 2016 so it could add van Gisbergen alongside Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.

Originally on Autosport.com