WEC: Hamilton returns to Morand for Nurburgring

British sports car driver Archie Hamilton will return to the World Endurance Championship with the Morand LMP2 team at this weekend's Nurburgring round. Hamilton, 24, will race the Team SARD Morand Morgan-Judd/BMW EVO together with regulars Oliver Webb and Pierre Ragues.

The deal marks the return of the grandson Le Mans 24 Hours winner Duncan Hamilton to the WEC for the first time since last year's running of the French enduro. He raced a GTE class Am Ferrari 458 Italia for the Ram Racing squad, one year after he contested the 24 Hours at the wheel of a P2 ORECA-Nissan run by Delta-ADR on the 60th anniversary of his grandfather's victory with Jaguar in 1953.

Hamilton, whose primary race program in 2015 is racing in the International GT Open series in a V8 Racing Chevrolet Corvette, has links with team boss Benoit Morand stretching back five years. He tested a Formula Le Mans ORECA-Chevrolet FLM09 for Morand at Magny-Cours in 2010 when the team was known as Hope Polevision Racing.

"I've know Benoit for years and tested with him during the Formula Le Mans period; we kept contact and we have been able to put everything together for this race," Hamilton said. "It makes sense to come back to the WEC, because it is the highest level you can find in endurance racing."

Hamilton has taken the seat of GP2 driver Zoel Amberg, who has withdrawn for health reasons that are suspected to be the result of an accident at the Monaco round in May.

Originally on Autosport.com