Adrian Quaife-Hobbs gets his 2015 race season underway this weekend with his debut in the Blancpain Endurance Series in Italy.

The Autodromo Nazionale Monza plays host to the opening round of the season and Quaife-Hobbs takes to the track for his sportscar debut for VonRyanRacing.

The Tonbridge racer will take to the track piloting a McLaren 650S GT3, following a successful test with the McLaren GT customer team at Silverstone, Snetterton and Paul Ricard, the 24 year-old is now relishing the chance to make his first competitive outing of the year, among the near-capacity field. Now in its fifth season, the SRO-organised Blancpain Endurance Series looks set to be the most exciting yet, with a bumper entry across all classes.

For Quaife-Hobbs, the opportunity to put all his AutoGP World Series, GP2 and GP3 experience to the test, following the lengthy winter break, can’t come quick enough. Although a completely new departure, the BRDC Fairfield Trophy winner will as always give his best aboard the team’s 3.8-litre motor.

Speaking ahead of the weekend, Adrian said: “I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel competitively, naturally we’ve tested and that’s all gone incredibly well, but there’s no substitute for racing.

“I know the Monza track and now know the McLaren 650S, the team is very professional, and the series is enjoying its best season since it started, so it should be a great weekend.

“Of course it’s a completely different discipline for me coming in from single-seaters, but that won’t be a problem, many of the drivers competing in sportscars have done the same. The most difficult thing will probably be not wanting to hand over the car to my team-mates but I’ll leave the team to sort out that!”

This season Adrian will visit some of the top European tracks, including an appearance at his home circuit of Silverstone on 23&24 May, with the additional rounds taking place on 19&20 June, Paul Ricard (France); 25&26 July, Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) and 19&20 September, Nürburgring (Germany).