United Autosports finished fourth in the opening race of the Road to Le Mans weekend, when Daniel Schneider and Andy Meyrick brought the #32 Ligier JS P320 home for their best finish of the year so far. Had it not been for the race finishing under a yellow flag, Andy was on target to claim the #32 crew’s first podium of the year.
John Schauerman was partnered by Duncan Tappy in the #23 Ligier this week, Duncan standing in for Wayne Boyd, who is making his Le Mans 24 Hours debut this afternoon. Their opening race was thwarted by a puncture for Duncan in the second half of the race, but they finished inside the top 10 in race two, putting the #23 crew fourth in the championship standings.
Our championship leaders heading into this week had a couple of races to forget after Gerry Kraut got blocked in the opening race and Scott Andrews crashed towards the end of the second race. They now lie third in the championship with two rounds remaining.
European Le Mans Series driver, Jim McGuire joined the United Autosports Road to Le Mans team for the one off event, racing alongside IMSA team mate Guy Smith in the #26 Ligier JS P320. After running well during the opening race, Guy was unfortunately taken out with only a couple of laps left to run, leaving them with a DNF. Guy started race two, and made his way up to fifth place, but a drive through penalty for a jump start dropped him and Jim down the order.
The next race for the Michelin Le Mans Cup team is at Spa Francorchamps on 17-18 September. The team now look ahead to regaining the championship lead, with two rounds remaining.
Car 22
Gerry Kraut:
“We had a very disappointing weekend from my perspective. If things had gone differently, it could have been a lot better but that’s racing. Le Mans is a very fast track and there were a lot of incidents for us to avoid. Scott had an unfortunate second race but he’s ok and we look to Spa now.”
Scott Andrews:
“All the United cars unloaded really fast and we were really quick, with the cars feeling really good to drive. Gerry set his fastest lap around Le Mans but unfortunately it just wasn’t our weekend.”
Car 23
John Schauerman:
“It is always very cool to drive the Le Mans track. Our first race was a little disappointing, but Duncan did a really great job in the car. I really enjoyed the start of the second race, but a puncture unfortunately slowed us down. It was a fun weekend and I love driving here.”
Duncan Tappy:
“A big thank you to United, Richard and John for having me this weekend. We had an initial struggle with set up early on but worked well with our engineer to make good changes ahead of qualifying. Race one was going well for us before a puncture. John had a great second race start and handed over to me where I then tried to push the fastest laps out to make some more places up and score some points for the guys.”
Car 26
Jim McGuire:
“I love doing the Road to Le Mans weekend, it’s always a lot of fun. I really enjoyed driving with Guy as well. The car seemed difficult to drive for the second race and we had some contact with the wall at Porsche curves but still managed to finish the race.”
Guy Smith:
“A big thank you to United for the opportunity to drive #26 with Jim. We had some good racing here but we were just unlucky with some on track collisions and not feeling totally comfortable with the car in the second race. I’ve had a great weekend with the team and Jim. Le Mans is always a special one.”Car
Car 32
Daniel Schneider:
“It is always nice to come to Le Mans, it is the pinnacle of the season for me. We didn’t have any issues this weekend and we finished fourth in the first race which was a great result for us. I’m already looking forward to next year and getting that podium!”
Andy Meyrick:
“Really successful weekend for us to come here and just narrowly miss out on a podium. We showed really great pace this weekend so a big thanks to United and the crew here for giving us such a competitive car. Daniel showed great consistency and pace this weekend and learnt a lot of race craft so it was a good weekend for us.”
Source. United Autosports
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