Sam Bird gets 2016 works Ferrari World Endurance Championship seat

The 28-year-old has landed a Ferrari contract after winning the LMP2 title in the 2015 WEC with the G-Drive/OAK Ligier squad.

He will share the factory AF Corse team's #71 Ferrari 488 GTE with Davide Rigon.

Bird told Autosport: "I'm delighted to be joining the Ferrari factory.

"As a young boy, I used to look at Ferrari's Prancing Horse and think it was the symbol in motorsport, and I am thrilled to be associated with it."

Bird, who drove one of AF Corse's customer cars in two WEC rounds in 2014, joins Ferrari as part of a reshuffle of its roster of factory drivers.

Fellow Briton James Calado steps up to the #51 GTE Pro entry alongside Gianmaria Bruni from the #71 car for what will be his third season with Ferrari.

He replaces Toni Vilander, who moves over to the IMSA SportsCar Championship to race a 488 for the Risi Competizione squad alongside Giancarlo Fisichella.

The recruitment of Bird, who will continue to race in Formula E for the DS Virgin squad, brings the number of Ferrari factory drivers to eight.

Plans for Olivier Beretta and Andrea Bertolini, whose primary programmes last season were respectively in the Pirelli World Challenge with R Ferri Motorsport and in the WEC's GTE Am class with SMP Racing, have yet to be decided.