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Bruno Senna has secured a factory GT drive with McLaren for 2015

Former grand prix driver Bruno Senna has joined McLaren as a factory GT driver for 2015

The Brazilian, whose late uncle Ayrton Senna won three Formula 1 world titles with the marque, joins Alvaro Parente, Rob Bell and Kevin Estre on McLaren GT's roster of factory drivers.

The Formula E racer will undertake development duties with the new McLaren 650S GT3 racer and the Sprint track-day and be placed by the factory with customer teams over the course of the season.

His main race programme will be in the Blancpain Endurance Series with the VonRyan Racing team, which will field two of the new McLarens in the Pro class with a line-up that will include all four factory drivers.

Senna, 31, said that it was "a great honour to be joining McLaren, a team my uncle enjoyed such huge success with and one of the most famous names in motorsport".

He explained he was motivated to return to GT racing after a successful season with Aston Martin Racing in the 2013 World Endurance Championship, which included two GTE Pro victories.

"I started winning again in GT racing with Aston, which was something I hadn't had the chance to do for a few years before that in F1," he told AUTOSPORT.

"It reminded me what I really want to do, it refreshed my memory as to why I go racing — and that is to win races."

The move follows a 2014 season in which he raced on three times — once in the Brazilian Stock Car Championship and twice in the WEC with Aston — ahead of the start of his Formula E campaign in September with the Mahindra team.

McLaren GT boss Andrew Kirkaldy said that Senna would "add further strength to our team".

Last week's Formula E calendar reshuffle on the announcement of the Moscow event means he will be unable to contest the Silverstone round in May courtesy of a clash with the Berlin fixture.

Senna previously raced the predecessor of the 650S, the McLaren 12C GT3 (formerly known as the MP4-12C), for VonRyan at the 2013 Spa 24 Hours, when former manager and McLaren GT director Chris Goodwin was among his team-mates.

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