McLaren loans Alvaro Parente to Ram Ferrari GTE team for 2014 WEC

The 2005 British Formula 3 champion will join Ram regular Matt Griffin in the European Le Mans Series-winning team's GTE Pro class Ferrari 458 Italia in seven of the eight WEC races.

Ram team principal Dan Shufflebottom said: "We're really chuffed to have come to an agreement with both Alvaro and McLaren.

"To have someone of his calibre alongside Matt, who we know can deliver the goods from his championship-winning ELMS season last year, is a major boost to our chances of success."

Parente, 29, described the opportunity to race in the WEC with Ram as "a new and exciting challenge".

"I can feel it's an ambitious team with the will to succeed," he said.

"Matt is a very good driver, so I think we have all the right ingredients to fight for good results during the season."

The Portuguese driver will miss one round of the WEC when he is on duty in the Blancpain Endurance Series with one of McLaren's customer teams.

Parente is not the first McLaren factory driver to be loaned out to a team competing in GTE: Rob Bell is racing with Chrysler's SRT Motorsports squad in the United SportsCar Championship enduros and at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2014, and last year competed with Aston Martin Racing in selected WEC rounds.

Ram's GTE Am class Ferrari in the WEC will be shared by Johnny Mowlem, Ben Collins and Mark Patterson.