United Autosports have scored their second double win in a row at Spa Francorchamps, Belgium today as Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque won overall in the #22 Oreca 07, while Wayne Boyd, Tom Gamble and Rob Wheldon won the LMP3 class in the #2 Ligier JS P320.
The #32 crew of Alex Brundle, Will Owen and Job van Uitert finished fifth, with the #3 LMP3 Ligier of Jim McGuire, Andrew Bentley and Duncan Tappy finishing fifth in LMP3.
The ELMS team now moves on to the third round of the series at Paul Ricard, France on 28-29 August, but before that United’s FIA World Endurance Championship team resumes racing next weekend, also at Spa. (14-15 August).
LMP2
Our LMP2 cars locked out the front row for the start of the race, after dominating qualifying performances from Filipe Albuquerque and Job van Uitert on Saturday. Phil Hanson lined up on pole position for the second time this year, with Will Owen alongside him in second. Both made a great start, maintaining positions on the opening laps. With 16 minutes gone, the safety car was called out to rescue two LMP3 cars that had gone off track. On the restart, Phil, struggling with grip, dropped to second, with Will in third. After 48 minutes of running, Phil pitted the #22 for fuel only, with Will pitting the #32 on the same lap, also just for fuel. Just short of the one hour mark, a second safety car was deployed to clear a stranded GT car as Will unfortunately picked up a stop and go penalty for contact with a Ferrari, dropping him down to 12th. After 38 laps, both LMP2 cars pitted, Phil in the #22 changing to Filipe Albuquerque and Will in the #32 handing over to Job van Uitert. With just over two hours left to run, Filipe passed the #26 to retake the lead of the race, while Job began to make places up in the #32. Both LMP2 cars then pitted within a lap of each other, shortly before an FCY was thrown. The #32 re-joined in eighth with Alex Brundle now behind the wheel. With less than an hour left to run, Filipe was passed by the #26 just as the rain started to fall. Shortly after that, the #26 crashed into the tyre barrier as Filipe pitted to hand the #22 back over to Phil once again, changing tyres but sticking with slicks. Alex pitted the #32 with 41 minutes remaining and made his way back out again. With 27 minutes remaining and a one minute 27 second lead, Phil brought the #22 into the pits for a splash of fuel and re-joined comfortably in the lead. He remained in the lead until the chequered flag taking the #22 crew’s third consecutive Spa race win along with fastest lap of the race.
United’s LMP2 team now lie first (#22) and second (#32) in the championship standings with three rounds to go.
LMP3
Our LMP3 team continued where they left off at Paul Ricard with a second consecutive pole position for Wayne Boyd in the #2 Ligier JS P320. Duncan Tappy qualified the #3 fourth on the grid. Rob Wheldon started the #2 Ligier JS P320, while Andrew Bentley started the #3 Ligier. Rob made a great start, pulling a four second lead to the second placed car in the opening laps, but the safety car after 16 minutes ruined Rob’s lead. On the restart, Rob maintained the LMP3 lead, while Andrew had moved up a spot to third. After one hour and 10 minutes, and a fantastic opening stint, Rob pitted the #2 from the lead. Andrew Bentley momentarily took the lead of the race in the #3 Ligier before pitting to hand over to Jim McGuire. Unfortunately, not long after starting his stint, Jim had to pit again with a steering wheel issue. Rob pitted the #2 Ligier just short of the two-hour mark, handing over to Tom Gamble. With 1 hour and 45 minutes left to run, Duncan Tappy took over the wheel of the #3 Ligier from Jim McGuire. Tom in the #2 pitted for fuel only just as the skies began to get darker and rain was incoming. With under an hour to go, Wayne jumped on board the #2 as Tom pitted, just as the rain began to fall. He went back out on slicks to re-join in the lead of the race. Duncan in the #3 meanwhile was running fourth with 37 minutes remaining after a great couple of stints by him, but with 29 minutes remaining he pitted again for the final time for fuel dropping him back to seventh. At the end, Duncan finished fifth with Wayne crossing the line to take their second consecutive win of the 2020 season. The #2 Ligier also scored the fastest LMP3 lap of the race.
United’s #2 car now leads the championship by 29 points with three rounds to go. The #3 car lies seventh in the standings.
Source. United Autosports
Comments
