Johnny Mowlem gets full season IMSA SportsCar Championship deal

Mowlem, who announced the programme at Autosport International on Thursday, will share one of two ORECA-Chevrolet FLM09s entered by BAR1 Motorsports with 18-year-old Matt McMurry in the sprint rounds of the championship.

His team-mates for the long-distance rounds that make up the North American Endurance Cup element of the IMSA series have yet to be confirmed, but are likely to include Tomy Drissi and Marc Drumwright.

Other potential options include 2015 Mercedes DTM driver Lucas Auer, who contested three rounds of the World Endurance Championship with the Kolles/Lotus privateer LMP1 squad.

Both Mowlem and McMurry are returning to BAR1 after respectively contesting three and two races in last year's IMSA series, then known as the Tudor United SportsCar Championship.

Mowlem, who claimed class pole at the Daytona 24 Hours on his debut with BAR1 last year, told Autosport: "Matt is a very quick silver-rated driver, so I'd like to think we've got a chance of doing very well and winning a few races."

BAR1 team boss Brian Alder said: "We have had instant success with both drivers in the past, so I foresee them having us in contention for podiums right out of the gate".

McMurry, who became the youngest driver to start the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2014, will drive a GT Daytona class Porsche 911 GT3-R for Park Place Motorsports in the four NAEC enduros.

Mowlem will also contest the new GT3 Le Mans Cup at the wheel of a Ferrari 488 run by the British FF Corse team this season.