Former Formula 1 driver and 2016 European Le Mans Series champion Giedo van der Garde has been announced as a driver for Racing Team Nederland, which will take on the 2018/19 FIA WEC Super Season with a Dallara P217.

“I am delighted that Giedo has joined us. He is fast, experienced and highly motivated,” Racing Team Nederland founder and driver Frits van Eerd said. “Our debut in the world championship is a fantastic challenge, so it’s great to embark on it with a driver of this caliber.”

This news means the Dutchman is set to make his second Le Mans start in June, after he took the start in the 2016 running with G-Drive Racing. It will also mark his return to the FIA WEC, in which he completed a partial season campaign in 2016 with Extreme Speed Motorsports and G-Drive Racing.

“I am very happy that Racing Team Nederland and Frits have given me this great opportunity. I like the team’s ambitions and I want to be a part of it,” van der Garde said.

“The world championship is highly competitive and the Le Mans 24 Hours is one of the greatest races in the world. It will be special to compete in it again. The target is that as a team, we will keep improving each other, so that ultimately we can challenge for the podium. I am very much looking forward to it!

“In my first race in endurance racing I became champion (the 2016 ELMS opener at Silverstone, followed by winning the 2016 ELMS championship with G-Drive), but in the Le Mans 24 Hours we retired on Sunday morning. Because of my love for endurance racing, as well as the history and romanticism of Le Mans, I can’t wait to start racing for Racing Team Nederland.”

Racing Team Nederland, which competed in the European Le Mans Series in 2017 and contested the Le Mans 24 Hours with Jan Lammers and Rubens Barichello as part of its line-up, will show off its 2018 Dallara and reveal its other drivers in due course.