Rebellion calls up Tuscher for remainder of WEC season

Tuscher, 18, will partner fellow Swiss driver Alexandre Imperatori and Austrian racer Dominik Kraihamer, with Abt opting to concentrate on his primary campaign in the Formula E series.

As such, the Swiss young driver will contest the 6-hour races at Shanghai and Bahrain.

"I feel so honoured to be able to drive the two remaining FIA WEC races of 2015 for Rebellion," Tuscher said. "Endurance racing has interested me since I can remember, and I truly admire how Rebellion as a Swiss private team is so successful in this strong, international platform.

"This is going to be my first experience with such a car, and I have a lot of respect for it. Pitstops are going to be new to me, as well as the traffic with cars at different speeds.

"At the age of 10, I asked [part-time Rebellion #12 driver] Nick Heidfeld for an autograph at the Monaco GP, now I look forward to learning from my teammates. I am very thankful that the team chose me to race for them, and I am going to work hard to achieve a good team result."

After taking the 2011 Formula Pilota China crown in a season which featured three wins at Shanghai, Tuscher rose to prominence by securing runner-up in the now-defunct Formula 2 series at the age of 15.

However, he had to sit out 2013 entirely and, after a rookie weekend in GP3 in 2014 immediately yielded a podium, he finished that campaign in 12th and currently sits in the very same spot in his sophomore season with Jenzer Motorsport.

"We would like to welcome Matheo to our team," said Rebellion manager Bart Hayden. It will be quite a learning curve for Matheo stepping into the LMP1 car for the first time at a race weekend, but he is a confident character and he knows the circuit.

"As a Swiss team, we like to give a chance to Swiss drivers when the opportunity arises and Matheo has had some good results in single-seaters, so it is good that he is now gaining experience in sportscars."

Imperatori and Kraihamer, with who Tuscher will share the #13 car, remain in with a shout at WEC's LMP1 Private Teams' Trophy, 11 points adrift of #12 duo Nicolas Prost and Mathias Beche.

Tuscher's WEC deal means he could have to miss the penultimate round of the GP3 series, given that it will run at Bahrain in support of the WEC event.