United Autosports Wins LMP2 at the Daytona 24 Hours

Wakefield-based United Autosports has taken class victory at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, adding the title to its Le Mans win in June 2024, after some late- and post-race drama.

The two-car entry had a memorable qualifying, as the #22 car of James Allen, Daniel Goldburg, Rasmus Lindh, and Paul di Resta secured a class pole position, with the sibling #2 lining up third behind the PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports car.

However, after some early promise which saw both cars running consistently at the sharp end, their fortunes in the race diverged dramatically with almost a third of the race on the clock.

Nick Boulle, driving the #2, was involved in an enormous, six-car accident as the GTP category Cadillac V-Series.R of Louis Deletraz had a moment leaving the sharp turn two.

Deletraz ricocheted off the infield barriers and back onto the track, into the path of the unsighted Boulle who couldn’t avoid a collision which eventually caught up a total of six cars. Although Boulle was cleared by medical staff, the #2 couldn’t be repaired and retired soon after.

The #22 enjoyed better fortune, even surviving a puncture with little time lost, until a drive-through for jumping one of the numerous restarts set the car back into fourth place.

That became second in the final hour after the two leaders, Era Motorsport and the Mathiasen car, were involved in an incident off the final restart which promoted Tower Motorsports’ Sebastien Bourdais back up into the lead and di Resta hot on his heels.

A bizarre moment then saw the #22 penalised with another drive-through, after another car hit the #22’s pit board, dropping the team too far back to mount a challenge.

While Bourdais took the chequered flag, it wasn’t all over there. A lengthy post-race scrutineering check revealed that the Tower car had worn down a skid block beyond the maximum permitted and, despite a protest, resulted in the car being penalised and dropped to the back of the finishers.

That promoted the #22 back up to class winners, with Porsche Penske Motorsport the overall winner in the 963, and Ford scoring the GTD Pro win in the new Mustang GT3. Former United driver and northerner Matt Bell was part of the winning AWA Corvette team in GTD.

United Autosports has now taken two of the three legs of the triple crown of endurance racing back-to-back, and heads to Sebring in March with an eye on snagging all three in succession.

Featured image via United Autosports.