Sergey Sirotkin will keep his motor racing career alive at Le Mans.
Having been dropped by Williams, the Russian's backer SMP Racing announced that Sirotkin, 23, will contest Le Mans as well as two other forthcoming WEC events in the top LMP1 category.
"I am very glad that I have the honour of defending the colours of the Russian flag on the Russian prototype as part of a Russian team in the world endurance championship," he said.
Sirotkin added that he is confident he can "fight for the win" at Le Mans, where Fernando Alonso will be racing for Toyota.