United Autosports have been crowned European Le Mans Series LMP3 Champions for the third time at the final round of the 2020 season in Portimao, Portugal.
The #2 crew of Wayne Boyd, Tom Gamble and Rob Wheldon won the four-hour race to clinch the team’s third LMP3 championship in five years. The three drivers drove a stunning race to win in style for the third time this year after starting from pole position for the fourth time. The team finished 21 points ahead of second place, scoring a total of 94 points after three wins, a third place and four poles.
The pole sitting #32 crew of Will Owen, Alex Brundle and Job van Uitert finished fourth to seal second in the LMP2 standings, giving United Autosports a 1-2 in the LMP2 championship battle. They had a mixed race, with FCY cautions and safety cars not falling their way. All three drivers drove a brilliant race to be running second and third alongside the sister #22 for the latter stages of the race. Job van Uitert scored his first pole position as a United Autosports driver yesterday after a stunning lap, leading the field by 0.441 seconds to second place.
It was a fifth podium out of five races for the #22 Oreca 07 of Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque as they finished the race third – a slow puncture late on in the race hampering their progress – after contact at the start of the race knocked them down the order. The pair were crowned LMP2 champions at the previous round at Monza, ultimately finishing the year 39 points ahead of their team mates in the #32.
The #3 team of Jim McGuire, Andrew Bentley and Duncan Tappy finished a fantastic fourth after a spin early on for Andrew when attempting a pass for second place knocked them down the order. Andrew recovered brilliantly to pass the car onto Jim, who drove a faultless stint to hand the Ligier over to Duncan to bring the car home in fourth.
This championship tops off United Autosports’ fantastic year, after winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in September as well as the FIA World Endurance Championship. They won the ELMS LMP2 title last month, followed by the ELMS LMP3 title today – a feat no other sports car team has achieved in the same year.
Zak Brown
“Well what can I say. This is a fantastic result for the whole team to win not one, but two championships in the same series. That has never been done in ELMS before so I am super proud of everyone. Huge credit obviously goes to Richard for putting this team together. A great day to end a great year for United Autosports.”
Richard Dean
“It’s quite incredible. I’m massively proud of everybody, the whole team. I don’t think anybody imagined achieving what we have achieved this year. The competition has been really fierce. It’s hard to absorb it at the moment, everything has come thick and fast and to win both titles, Le Mans and WEC and it’s three LMP3 titles in five years so it’s nice to have that back. A huge credit to everybody.”
Source. United Autosports
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