Britain’s Oliver Webb will step up to the LMP1 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship after securing a drive with Bykolles Racing.
The 24 year old, who made his FIA WEC debut last year in LMP2, will join Simon Trummer and Pierre Kaffer for the 2016 season.
The trio will share the privately entered CLM P1/01-AER prototype at all nine FIA WEC rounds, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“With the signing of Oliver Webb our desired driver line-up for the 2016 WEC season is now complete,” said Boris Bermes, director of racing operations at Bykolles. “Oliver is a young and fast sports car driver, who was able to gain a lot of experience in the past few years. His achievements in endurance racing speak for themselves.”
“We have been watching his career for a long time and were already impressed back when he was in open-wheel racing. I am convinced that Oliver will be a great asset for our team.”
“He fits perfectly with his new team-mates in terms of character and his approach and will support the team throughout the 2016 season to systematically continue the progress from last year.”
After achieving early success in Formula 3, Webb switched his attention to sportscars and made his Le Mans debut in 2014 with Signatech Alpine. Later that year he sealed the European Le Mans Series title with the French team, which led to a FIA WEC drive in 2015 with Team SARD/Morand. Webb most recently helped Race Performance seal the LMP2 team’s title in the 2015-16 Asian Le Mans Series.
“I’m delighted to be joining ByKolles for the 2016 FIA WEC season,” said Webb. “A great calendar and step in my career into LMP1 with faster, more advanced machinery.”
“After some good conversations with the team and the direction the car is going in I’m very excited to be involved in this project for 2016. It’s a big step forward and I’m looking forward to the challenge and joining my new team mates Simon Trummer and Pierre Kaffer.”
Bykolles Racing will begin its world championship campaign at the Paul Ricard Prologue test on March 25-26. The 2016-spec car, featuring upgraded aero and suspension elements, will be unveiled before the test.
