Six-time Olympic cycling champion Sir Chris Hoy is looking to join an illustrious band of athletes who have excelled at more than one sport by competing in the Le Mans 24 Hour race in June.

The 40-year old is set to compete with two team-mates in the prestigious motor sport race which takes place overnight from June 18 to 19.

Britain's most successful Olympian, who retired after London 2012 when he won two gold medals in the veledrome, has called it a lifelong dream to take part in the competition.

He will drive a Nissan-powered Ligier JS P2 chassis in the second tier of the race, alongside team-mates Andrea Pizzitola and Michael Munemann.

"I remember getting a Scalextric track when I was five or six," he said. "One of the cars had headlights on it. I remember asking my dad why and he said 'that's for the Le Mans 24 Hour race - they race through the night'.

"I didn't do this to replace my cycling, but in many ways I get to carry on some of the really enjoyable parts of my cycling career into motor sport.

"It's exactly the same feeling you have when you're about to race, doesn't matter whether it's on a bike, in a car or even when I was younger, racing BMXs. There's still that excitement, the nervousness, the adrenaline.

"I never thought I'd feel that again once I retired from cycling - I thought that was the end of that part of my life."

Hoy, who raced in the British GT Championship in 2014 and European Le Mans Series the following year, knew securing a place in this summer's race would be no easy task.

"I wasn't really surprised at how hard it was," he added. "It's like someone saying 'if you can ride a bike, you can win an Olympic gold medal'. As soon as you step on a track, even go-karting, you get a feel for the skill involved."

"I wouldn't necessary say 'hi, I'm Chris, I'm a racing driver'. But on my Twitter profile I now have 'race cars' at the end of the little list of things. I changed that in the last week.

"Once I actually get into the car - and I did at the beginning - I don't now feel like I'm a fish out of water, 'what on earth am I doing here?"'

Hoy will race at Silverstone in April and Imola, Italy in May in preparation but is yet to consider his future in motor sport.

"I'm not thinking beyond Le Mans," he said. "It's only a matter of weeks away now. I'm not even thinking beyond the start line, I'm just thinking about getting to the start of the race and we'll deal with it from there."