Yorkshire team show true grit to finish Le Mans 24-hour
UNITED AUTOSPORTS co-owner Richard Dean hailed his team’s fight after they extended their run of top-six finishes at the legendary Le Mans 24-hour race at the weekend.
The endurance sportscar team based in Wakefield – which won the LMP2 class at Le Mans in 2020 – cemented their position as one of the leading teams in their classification by extending a record of finishing inside the top six that dates back to their first outing in 2017.
But they needed plenty of Yorkshire grit to achieve it.
Having been in the top three throughout practice, United’s No 22 car driven by Phil Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque and Will Owen was sandwiched on the very first corner and had to retreat to the pits where they had a new nose inserted, but lost two laps. The No 23 car driven by Alex Lynn, Oliver Jarvis and American Josh Pierson – at 16 the youngest driver to complete the race – fared little better when it was forced to make three unscheduled pit-stops in the opening three hours due to tyre delamination.
No 23 fought back to finish sixth while No 22 snatched tenth on the final lap.
“It was a tough race and looked like it could be over for us inside 24 seconds rather than 24 hours,” explained Leeds-born former driver and United co-founder Dean.
“It wasn’t the start we expected with unacceptable driving standards and the No 22 in the gravel through no fault of Will’s which the stewards confirmed with the penalty issued.
“The ultimate penalty though was the innocent No 22 car, trailing last and two laps down inside the opening minutes, but which fought back superbly.
“The No 23 car was quick throughout but due to tyre issues early on, made eight more pitstops than the ultimate winners.
“It was an incredible fightback by the team to get both cars inside the top-10 at the finish, both pushing on the very last lap after 24 hours, confirmed by Phil moving up a place with a couple of corners remaining.”
Pierson, from Portland in Oregan, said: “The highlight was my first stint because that was when I officially made history and the most emotional moment was to finally get to race in the 24 hours.
“We had to overcome a lot after our tyre dramas early on and had seven or eight more pit stops than our main LMP2 rivals. So a P6 finish was good.”