Ex-GP2 racer Adrian Quaife-Hobbs switches to GT racing for 2015

The 24-year-old Briton, who won the Auto GP title in 2012 before graduating to GP2, will race one of VonRyan Racing's McLaren 650S GT3s in the five-race BES alongside two of the British manufacturer's roster of factory drivers.

Quaife-Hobbs, who missed the last two races of last year's GP2 championship through injury, told AUTOSPORT: "My goal was to get with a manufacturer and try to work my way up the sportscar ladder.

"It looks like a more promising route than staying in single-seaters, because I want to make a career out of motorsport."

He added that it was "great to be with such a well-known manufacturer as McLaren".

His deal with VonRyan for 2015 follows a test with the HTP Motorsport squad at the wheel of one of its Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3s at Hockenheim last year and a subsequent try-out with Aston Martin Racing in a V12 Vantage GT3.

McLaren has confirmed that its five-man factory squad of Alvaro Parente, Kevin Estre, Rob Bell and new signings Bruno Senna and Shane Van Gisbergen will all race with VonRyan in the BES, which includes the Spa 24 Hours in July.

It has yet to reveal how the drivers will be divided up between the two cars.

VonRyan team boss Dave Ryan said: "It's fantastic to be able to enter one of the most prestigious GT3 championships globally with such a strong driver line-up that really is second to none.

"This is a very clear indication of how serious we are for the season. "

VonRyan is taking part in the two-day official BES test at Paul Ricard, starting today (Wednesday).

Estre is also racing in the Pirelli World Challenge in North American with the K-PAX/Flying Lizard Motorsports McLaren team, while Parente has been placed with Teo Martin Motorsports for the International GT Open series.