Filipe Albuquerque joins Audi's WEC line-up
Filipe Albuquerque will race the third Audi R18 e-tron quattro at the Le Mans 24 Hours in the first element of the reshuffle following Allan McNish's retirement
The 28-year-old, who has moved over from Audi's DTM line-up after two seasons, is joining the German manufacturer's squad for Le Mans and, by way of preparation, the Spa WEC round in May.
He will also be given an as-yet-unspecified programme aboard the Audi R8 LMS ultra.
It is expected that Albuquerque will take the berth in the third car previously filled by Lucas di Grassi, who is set to move up to a full-season programme in the seat vacated by McNish alongside defending world champions Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval.
Albuquerque, who has never previously raced a prototype, is set to share his R18 with Oliver Jarvis and Marc Gene, who have both driven the third Audi LMP1 for the past two seasons.
The Portuguese, winner of the GT class at last year's Daytona 24 Hours, said: "I can hardly wait: I'm going to compete at Le Mans in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro, in other words in the best car in the biggest race of the world."
Albuquerque will begin his season at the Daytona 24 Hours on January 25/26 aboard one of the two Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi R8s entered in the GT Daytona class of the United SportsCar Championship.
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