V8 Supercars' Shane van Gisbergen joins McLaren GT squad for 2015

The New Zealander, who was last year's V8 Supercars series runner-up with the Tekno Holden team, is the second new addition to McLaren GT's line-up this year after Bruno Senna and joins the Brazilian, Alvaro Parente, Rob Bell and Kevin Estre on the British manufacturer's books.

McLaren GT team principal Andrew Kirkaldy told AUTOSPORT: "Shane has been impressive every time he's been in one of our cars.

"I drove with him at Bathurst [in the 12 Hours] last year and he'd done next to nothing in the car beforehand, but he was immediately the quickest car on the track and people barely got near his time over the rest of the weekend.

"Shane was also quick in the little time he got at the Spa 24 Hours last year in the VonRyan car [which went out of the race before he could drive]."

No programme has been announced by McLaren for van Gisbergen, 25, but it is expected that he will join his fellow works drivers in an attack on the Blancpain Endurance Series by the VonRyan Racing team with a pair of new 650S GT3s.

That would mean he would have to miss the Paul Ricard round in June, because it clashes with the V8 event at the Hidden Valley Raceway near Darwin.

Van Gisbergen outlined his desire to do more international sportscar racing to AUTOSPORT on his first appearance in Europe at Spa last July.

He has contested the past two Daytona 24 Hours events, finishing second in the GT Daytona class with the Alex Job Porsche team this year.

Last week V8 Supercars' leading team Triple Eight announced that it would expand to a three-car line-up for 2016 so it could add van Gisbergen alongside Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.