Vautier lands WEC ride

Tristan Vautier

From Autosport — Former IndyCar racer and 2012 Indy Lights champion Tristan Vautier will race for the Team SARD Morand LMP2 squad in the opening two rounds of the World Endurance Championship.

The Frenchman will drive one of the squad's pair of Morgan-SARD LMP2 EVOs alongside Oliver Webb and Pierre Ragues in the Silverstone and Spa rounds, before the winner of the team's Raceto24 reality TV show takes over at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June and subsequent rounds of the WEC.

Vautier, who graduated from his successful Lights campaign in 2012 to the IndyCar Series in '13 with the Schmidt team, makes the move into the WEC after three appearances driving a SpeedSource Lola-Mazda LMP2 in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship last season.

Team boss Benoit Morand said: "I had a few very good options for the third seat in the first two rounds of the WEC.

"What made the difference in favour of Tristan was that he was highly motivated to be in the car, and his race record speaks for itself."

Vautier, 25, added that it was an "honour" to be joining the team.

His replacement will be picked from a list of 24 drivers, which includes Conor Daly, Christopher Haase and Sam Brabham, taking part in the Raceto24 internet-based reality show.

A full-season partner for Team SARD Morand's other WEC entry alongside Christian Klien and Koki Saga has yet to be announced.

DID YOU KNOW…
Tristan Vautier has a family connection with a stalwart sportscar racer?

He is the godson of 13-time Le Mans 24 Hours starter Jerome Policand, who notched up a best result of fourth position in 1997.

Policand runs the Auto Sport Promotion GT team for which Vautier contested the Spa 24 Hours in 2012 and '14.