Sports car newcomer Alexander Sims will race for the Status GP team in this year's European Le Mans Series alongside his role as test and development driver for the McLaren GT program.
Sims, who raced with Status in GP3 last season, will drive the team's LMP2 Lola B12/80-Judd/BMW in the full ELMS. He will be joined at the season opener at Paul Ricard this weekend by multiple Superleague Formula race winner Yelmer Buurman and British sports car regular Dean Stirling.
"To be able to balance my programs this year is a fantastic way for me to quickly gain sports car experience and hopefully top results," said Sims. Developing the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 and racing a prototype in ELMS will complement each other perfectly."
Status is moving into sports cars under its own name for the first time in 2012. The team has previously helped run cars for the Level 5 Motorsports LMP2 team and Team Modena in GT1.
Status team principal Teddy Yip Jr. said: "It's fantastic that Status GP's long-held ambition to move into sports car racing in our own right is coming to fruition this weekend, and it's an important development for the company."
The Status Lola shaken down at Snetterton on Monday, with Sims getting his first laps in a prototype, before the team left for Ricard.