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Stefan Johansson joins Gulf Racing Middle East for Sebring 12 Hours

Former Le Mans 24 Hours winner Stefan Johansson will return to the wheel of a prototype in this month's Sebring 12 Hours.

Former Le Mans 24 Hours winner Stefan Johansson will return to the wheel of a prototype in this month's Sebring 12 Hours.

The US-based Swede, who won Le Mans with the Joest Porsche team in 1997, has signed to drive one of the Gulf Racing Middle East squad's Lola-Nissan B12/80 LMP2s in the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship on March 17.

Johansson is hopeful that the drive will lead to a full-time seat with the team in the WEC.

Johansson, who will share the Gulf Lola with Ivory Coast driver Frederic Fatien and sometime British Formula 3 racer Keiko Ihara, said: "I've been looking to get back in a prototype for a while, so this is great news. It's a bit last-minute, but I think it's like that for a lot of teams.

"The deal is only for Sebring at the moment, but the intent is there to do the full season. That would get me back to Le Mans; I didn't want to miss another one."

Johansson last raced a prototype when he made a one-off in last year's Petit Le Mans enduro at Road Atlanta but undertook a full season in the American Le Mans Series in a Ginetta-Zytek run by Corsa Motorsports in 2009.

The last of his 14 Le Mans starts came at the wheel of an Epsilon-Euskadi LMP1 coupe in 2008.

Former Le Mans Series champion Jan Charouz has completed the line-up in the other Gulf Lola. The Czech will drive with team boss Fabien Giroix and ex-Formula Palmer Audi regular Maxime Jousse.

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