Australian race driver John Martin will make his sportscar debut this year in the FIA World Endurance Championships.

The former A1 Grand Prix and Superleague Formula driver will drive a Oreca Nissan prototype, run by a collaboration between Alan Docking Racing and Delta Motorsport.

Martin, winner of the 2006 Australian Formula Ford Championship, will be teamed up with experienced Thai racer Tor Graves and former British F3 champion and sportscar returnee Robbie Kerr.

The ADR-Delta team will run in the LMP2 class of the World Endurance Championship and has already stated its long term intentions to use the LMP1 class as a research and development platform for carbon reduction and hybrid technology development.

Delta Motorsport Managing Director and Team Manager of ADR-Delta Simon Dowson said that the team has a great chance to develop some exciting innovations.

“We have an exciting opportunity for next year in forming a new sportscar team,” he said.

“We have in-depth race car engineering knowledge and experience in our team which consists of engineers and technicians who have achieved excellence in the top categories of motorsport.

“Combining this and the skill and knowledge of what Delta Motorsport have developed over recent years gives us a tremendous platform for innovation in the future.

“In 2012 it is looking like Audi, Peugeot and Toyota will introduce a KERS technology into the WEC. This is a fantastic initiative by the ACO, with the rules written in a way to encourage engineers to design energy efficient systems for fuel saving and emission reduction mode rather than just a performance addition, it is the right time to engage with energy efficient motorsport technologies which will benefit the general public road car vehicles in years to come.”