Darryl O’Young and Alex MacDowall join Bamboo in the WEC

Bamboo Engineering will compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship during its sabbatical season from the WTCC, fielding the #99 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE for former drivers Darryl O’Young and Alex MacDowall, who will be joined by Fernando Rees.

The team will compete in the GTE Pro class for experienced drivers, and tested last week at the Portimao circuit in Portugal last week.

The team’s foray in the WEC is the Silverstone-based squad’s third major international venture in recent years, competing in the WTCC from 2010-2013, winning the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy last season, as well as competing in the GP3 Series last season.

“This is a really prestigious programme for the company, a great engineering challenge that we all will relish,” said Bamboo Engineering CEO Richard Coleman. “I am delighted to work with Alex and Darryl again, and we are looking forward to working with Fernando. Last week’s test was really positive and we covered a lot of miles; the drivers even got some good night running which is vital practice for Le Mans.”

The team had originally announced plans to run two of RML’s new Chevrolet Cruzes in the TC1 class for the 2014 WTCC season, but decided against it on funding grounds.

An announcement by the team which has acquired the final two new Chevrolet Cruzes in addition to those of ROAL Motorsport and Campos Racing is expected shortly.