❀Stoffel Vandoorne says he “always had an e🦩ye” on the FIA World Endurance Championship as he prepares to make his debut in the series this weekend at Spa.

Ex-McLaren Formula 1 driver Vandoorne has joined LMP1 team SMP Rac💖ing for the last two rounds of the WEC season, with the finale coming at t𒆙he 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

Speaking on Thursday, Vandoorne said he had always kept endu✅rance racing in mind, making it an easy call to jump at the opportunity to link up with SMP Racing for Spa and Le Mans.

“I’ve always had an eye on this type of racing, especially if you have the chance to do Le Mans with an LMP1 team. It’s not 𝔍nothing,” Vandoo🙈rne said.

“It’s quite a big deal. Le Mans is one of the biggest races in the world. When I was in junior series, I was always following the race, I was𓂃 watching it when I was sitting at home.

“To participate now will be a hu🐬ge challenge. ꦓI think this is the ultimate test for a driver, because you can have every condition, and managing traffic. We’ll see how it will go.

“It will be 𒉰something completely new, but I’m l🔯ooking forward to it.”

Vandoorne has added the two WEC appearances to his full-time race programme in Formula E, where he races for HWA Racelab, as well as serving as one of Mercedes🍬’ F1 simulator drivers.

However, the Belgian remained coy wheಞn asked if he would look for a more permanent programme in the WEC in the fu🍒ture.

“We’ll see,” Vandoorne said.

“I think before I was always saying, maybe [I’ll do] Le Mans. It has always been a race tꦫhat I’ve been interested in doing, but I was not♎ kind of expecting it to come so early.

“I’m very pleased that I got the opportunity to do it. I think it’s a unique opportunity to do it in an LMP1 car as well. ♌It will be a great experience.

“We’ll s🐎ee what the future will bring. It’s hard to predict.”

Vandoorne’s move ♌into the WEC follows that of former McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso, who made his debut at Spa last year with Toyota𓆉 and currently leads the drivers’ championship.

“[Alonso] sent me a message as soon as it was announced that I was going to participate at ✤Spa and Le Mans,” Vandoorne said.

“Fernando’s had a good experience with Toyot꧟a, and had a successful time there. He’s been enjoying being here a lot, and he just wanted to share his thoughts and his opinions about this cha♈mpionship, so we’ll see. I’m excited.”

Saturday's race will mark Vandoorne's first sports car outing since 2013, when he took part in an♚ FIA GT Series event in Baku beh𒐪ind the wheel of a McLaren MP4-12C.