American LMP1 outfit DragonSpeed has signed IMSA Sportscar race winner Renger van der Zande to its lineup for the 2018-19 World Endurance Championship 'super season'.
Van der Zande, who clinched pole for the Daytona 24 Hours last month, will co-drive a Russian-built BR1-Gibson with British sportscar ace Ben Hanley and team patron Henrik Hedman.
The deal ensures the 31-year-old Dutchman's debut appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, and his first WEC drive since 2012.
Van der Zande is set to balance his DragonSpeed WEC campaign with the 10-race IMSA prototype calendar, although he is likely to miss the season-opening 6 Hours of Spa in May because of a clash with the IMSA race at Mid-Ohio.
The move brings Van der Zande's racing career full circle, as his full-season prototype debut came behind the wheel of a DragonSpeed-entered ORECA FLM09 in the 2013 American Le Mans Series, which later became the IMSA Sportscar Championship.
In 2016, he clinched his first major sportscar title by winning the IMSA Prototype Challenge class with Peter Baron's Starworks Motorsport concern, before signing with Spirit of Daytona to compete in the top category last season.
Strong performances in 2017 – including a Daytona podium and an emphatic last-ditch win at Laguna Seca – piqued the interest of Wayne Taylor, who recruited Van der Zande to spearhead his team's title defence in 2018.
DragonSpeed was founded by former F3000 and Le Mans racer Elton Julian in 2007, and announced its plans to step to the LMP1 category after winning the European Le Mans Series LMP2 title last year.
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