Bruno Senna and Phil Hanson confirmed to drive a single car entry
Yorkshire-based LMP2 team United Autosport have confirmed a single car for the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup, announcing Bruno Senna and Phil Hanson to drive. The third driver is yet to be decided. Following the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, United will return to the USA for the remaining endurance events in the IMSA calendar, fitting the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen and Motul Petit Le Mans around their other championship commitments in Europe.
United are currently in Florida competing in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona with a two car entry; McLaren men Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris join Phil Hanson in the #23 Ligier JS P217, and United ELMS regulars Will Owen and Hugo de Sadeleer team with DTM champion Paul di Resta and Rebellion LMP1 man Bruno Senna in the #32 entry.
Phil Hanson said “I’m really looking forward to racing in the North American Endurance Cup. It will be a good supplement to an already pretty lavish programme we have going on with ELMS and the Rolex 24 and my testing programme.”
His newly-announced teammate Bruno Senna added “extending the programme with United Autosports is very cool. So far the team has been great and we have been working together very well and the environment in the team is really fun.”
The prototype frontrunner clearly relished the chance to use his North American experience, adding “Each race will give us very different challenges, Sebring is a tough bumpy track so there will be a lot of work to do to get the car nice for us to drive for 12 hours but I’m excited to see what we can do. I’m familiar with all the circuits so I will do what I can to help the team and Phil get up to speed.”
United’s expanded effort in North America is the first such move by an international team, and is a clear statement of confidence in the relative performance of their WEC-spec Ligier against IMSA’s homegrown DPi formula.
Richard Dean, team owner and Managing Director, hinted at Stateside expansion in the future: “the IMSA series has been on our radar for a while now and to take our European championship winning team over there is definitely the next step in our racing plans.”
United Autosports owner and Chairman Zak Brown was confident and very happy with his latest signings. “I’m pleased United Autosports have committed to racing in the four IMSA endurance events in the US. Phil and Bruno have settled into the team really well in a short space of time and putting them together in one car will create a great line up.”
Jackie Chan DCR JOTA are the only other team from outside IMSA competing at Daytona – the WEC LMP2 benchmarks have yet to announce any further American races in 2018.
