United Autosports Confirm Three Cars Entered For 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours

United Autosports have confirmed that they have placed three entries for the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours with one car under their United Autosports USA operating licence and two cars as United Autosports UK.

The team have then requested the two of their five automatic invitations be granted by the ACO’s selection committee in addition to the team’s full-season FIA WEC car.

Also confirmed is the return of Paul di Resta to the team for Le Mans, the Scot formed part of the team’s LMP2 class winning effort at Le Mans last year and also set class pole position in a season that saw him race in seven out of the eight races and score four race wins.

He will though not return as part of the full-season WEC car at Le Mans, instead he is the first named driver for the sister #23 Oreca.

First named driver in the #32 car is Nico Jamin, with his team mates also still to be confirmed.

The #22 Oreca 07 – the team’s 2021 FIA WEC entry – will be driven by reigning LMP2 champions, Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque who will be joined for the season by Fabio Scherer.

The entry list for the 2021 Le Mans 24 hours will be announced tomorrow.

United Autosports won a record total of five potential auto-invitations to the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours with LMP2 wins at Le Mans, a Championship win in the ELMS and with second place too in the European Championship plus LMP3 Championship wins in ELMS and, last month, in the Asian Le Mans Series too.

Paul di Resta:

“It’s great news to announce that we are going back to the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours. It’s nice to be part of that journey again and trying to retain the win that we got with Phil and Filipe last year. It’s obviously a different set up this year, but it’ll be interesting to see how it goes with my new team mates when they are announced. I think it’s good that the ACO have taken action early with changing the date of the race to allow people to prepare. I’m definitely looking forward to going racing again. LMP2 looks very strong once again and Le Mans is the best race in the world to get to grips with, so it can’t come soon enough. Till then I’ll be doing as much as I can to get integrated into the team again and with my new team mates. I really appreciate the efforts from both Richard and Zak to get me back into it.”

Zak Brown:

“It made sense to have Paul as part of our Le Mans team for 2021. After what he achieved last year alongside Phil and Filipe, it’s great to see him back to defend that win.”

Richard Dean:

“I’m pleased we can welcome Paul back into the team, he played such an important role in our success at the 24 hours last year and in securing our first WEC title in 2020. Le Mans is the big one and we want to make sure that we can defend our win from last year, so having three great line ups is an important step towards that goal. We were lucky enough to be in the unique position to have won six automatic invites to the race, but with the regulations the way they are, can only take up two of the entries that we won. We will be working hard with all three of our cars and drivers between now and August to make sure we are in the best position possible going into our fifth Le Mans 24 Hours.”