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Alexander Sims admits future may lie in GT3 after McLaren deal

2008 McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award winner Alexander Sims has admitted that his motorsport future may lie more in McLaren's GT3 project than any single-seater ambitions

The 22-year-old Briton has competed in a plethora of single-seater championships over the past five years, notably finishing runner-up in Formula Renault UK in 2008. He has also won races in the F3 Euro Series and in GP3.

Despite such success Sims said continuing up the single-seater ladder was not feasible given the huge financial demands, and that he was committed instead to helping move McLaren's GT3 project forward.

"The single-seater situation needed so much money it was not an option for me," Sims said on stage at the 2012 AUTOSPORT International show.

"Having won the McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award in 2008 I have pretty decent links with the team, so I got on the phone to Andrew [Kirkaldy] to see if there was an opportunity [in GT3] and there was.

"I don't know if my single-seater career has stopped, and that's partly why McLaren appealed to me so much given the obvious links to Formula 1.

"I realise though that its not just a situation I'm able to switch in and out of, and I'm interested in this project in the long run - I'm looking forward to it massively. I don't know too much yet about my own programme, but I'm committed to being a part of the project and helping to move it forward.

"It was interesting that the first time I tested I just adapted to it and worked it out - it's not something that will take me years to get my head around."

Andrew Kirkaldy, a winner of the McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award in 1997 and project manager for the MP4-12C GT3 programme, said it was great to have Sims on board on the GT3 project.

"It's great to have Alex on board, and to have someone with such pedigree on board," Kirkaldy explained.

"He tested just before Christmas for the first time and was very good, very impressive. He also drove in the dark for the first time and that's not easy."

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