Van Uitert gets two WEC outings with Team Nederland

The silver-rated Dutchman will replace Nyck de Vries for the opening round of the 2019/20 campaign at Silverstone, which clashes with the Belgian round of the Formula 2 championship in which de Vries races for ART Grand Prix.

Van Uitert will join Giedo van der Garde and Frits van Eerd at the wheel of RTN's new TDS Racing-run Oreca 07 at the British track, before lining up alongside van der Garde and de Vries for the third round of the season in Shanghai.

Gentleman driver van Eerd has other commitments during the Shanghai weekend that will prevent him from taking up his usual seat.

“From my first year in motorsport, Frits has supported me and I am very happy and proud that I can now race for Racing Team Nederland," said van Uitert, whose main campaign this year is in the European Le Mans Series with G-Drive Racing.

"Hopefully my experience with Oreca and TDS will be useful for the team, looking for success at Silverstone and in China. We have a strong team and with the Oreca we have to be a podium candidate in both races."

Van Uitert impressed in this year's Le Mans 24 Hours, and was on course to share victory with Jean-Eric Vergne and Roman Rusinov until G-Drive's Aurus-branded Oreca failed to restart at a pitstop due to a wiring issue. The trio eventually finished sixth in class.

TDS boss Xavier Combet added: "When we had Job testing our Oreca in 2018, we immediately saw his potential. He has not disappointed us since, because he is fast, works hard and makes no mistakes.

"We are therefore pleased that Job is now, together with Frits, Giedo and Nyck, also part of Racing Team Nederland. We are sure that we can participate at the front in this way."

RTN completed its first test with its new Oreca 07 earlier this month at Aragon, with the car's livery expected to be revealed ahead of the Prologue test at Barcelona on July 23-24.

The Dutch squad announced back in May that it was switching to the French chassis after campaigning a Dallara P217 during the 2018/19 superseason.