ELMS: TOP 10 FINISHES DELIVER POINTS IN CHAOTIC 4 HOURS OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
United Autosports at Eau Rouge
The 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps kicked off with a chaotic opening two hours which saw almost half the LMGT3 field retire amidst numerous Safety Cars, Yellow Flags and Virtual Safety Cars.
In the early stages, the United Autosports LMP2 trio successfully avoided trouble. However, contact, damage and tyre issues – in part, a result of the recently resurfaced, more abrasive track at Spa-Francorchamps - reared their heads and, with few incidents in the second half to neutralise the field, the race resulted in underwhelming finishes for all three cars.
The #21 LMP2 Pro/Am crew qualified in the top five for the second time this season, courtesy of Daniel Schneider. On race day, the Brazilian driver had a solid opening stint, gaining a position to P4 and keeping it clean in the Safety Car restart. Andy Meyrick took over, continuing the momentum – but was caught up in heavy traffic, which led to an unavoidable collision and nose change. Filipe Albuquerque was tasked with a triple stint to finish the race and was recovering well, before a puncture halted his progress, leading to P6 in the final standings.
In the #22 ORECA 07, Ben Hanley had to take the start after causing a red flag in Qualifying on Saturday afternoon. The British driver made good progress from the back of the LMP2 pack, gaining five places in two laps and breaking into the top 10 – handing over to Silver graded-driver Filip Ugran just after the half hour mark. Two hours into the race, Ugran was in the lead, however challenges from Platinum drivers and contact from another LMP2 dropped the #22 from the front, running P5 when Marino Sato took over. In the final stages, Sato and Hanley managed the tyre disadvantage - with the #22 down a set compared to other teams after the Qualifying incident - but couldn’t attack, ultimately crossing the line P9.
The #23 also had tyre woes after a solid opening stint from Le Mans winner Bijoy Garg. He lost a couple of places on the opening lap, but these were recovered by the middle stages. The big issue for the #23 came with 90 minutes on the clock, when Fabio Scherer suffered a front right tyre failure, bringing the ORECA 07 in for an unplanned stop. Paul Di Resta did the final double stint but didn’t have chance to recover the losses, taking P10 at 15:30 local time.
The next round of the European Le Mans Series is the 4 Hours of Mugello – the first time the series will visit the Italian circuit - on 29th September 2024. First, however, the McLaren team are going to Texas for round six of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Stay up to date on social @unitedautosports.
Daniel Schneider, Andy Meyrick and Filipe Albuquerque
#21 LMP2 Pro/Am
QUALI P5 | RACE P6 | CHAMP P6
Daniel Schneider: “Today was the shortest stint ever because of all the Safety Cars … that was a little bit annoying. Everybody comes here to drive, and some of us didn’t really get chance to drive! But for me, it was a great racing car. It was very stable and I could push a lot … but I was babysitting the tyres to not damage them too much. Honestly, I have no complaints about my stint. We did everything well, but the result didn’t come. So we will keep doing the right things and the result will come.”
Andy Meyrick: “The race was crazy. I think today was a bit of a lottery. We had a really good car, all three drivers did a mega job, and the team were great in the pitstops all weekend. I want to thank everybody so much … it just wasn’t our day. On another day, we would have easily been on the podium.”
Filipe Albuquerque: “The car was pretty good today! We were recovering well but unfortunately we had a puncture on the rear right and we had to pit to change that. Not only did we lose more time with that, but it completely killed our momentum going forward so I had to pass again more cars. Finishing P6 is very disappointing but it is what it is. Without the puncture, I believe we would have been on the podium.”
Filip Ugran, Marino Sato and Ben Hanley
#22 LMP2
QUALI P14 | RACE P9 | CHAMP P7
Filip Ugran: “In my first stint, I followed the Safety Car for more or less 95% of it. In my second stint, I was P1 for four or five laps! And then, the degredation hit me. I did all I could but some GTs made me lose about five seconds in one lap … and then the other LMP2 hit me. Fighting with them made me lose the rears especially. Overall, it was okay, but we will come back stronger.”
Marino Sato: “My stint was average. It wasn’t spectacular, and it wasn’t bad. The position that I came out in wasn’t the best. I was in the middle of a lot of LMP2s … so there was a lot of traffic in the first half of my stint. Once I got clear of that, we had decent pace, but we were a bit shifted with the tyre strategy and at the end of the stint, other teams had new tyres. It was a messy race, but it was well managed with so few tyres so I am reasonably happy with myself.”
Ben Hanley: “The start was alright … very messy with all the yellows. I think we were in a good position until Filip [Ugran] got hit. That was just after a Safety Car, and it dropped us to the back. From that point on, we just stayed there. We came through it a bit, but nothing really happened in the second half of the race, so that was the big point where we lost out. If he had not have been spun around, maybe it would have been different towards the end.”
Bijoy Garg, Fabio Scherer and Paul Di Resta
#23 LMP2
QUALI P6 | RACE P10 | CHAMP P11
Bijoy Garg: “The start was alright … I lost a couple of positions through the first stint, but we were still in a good place. We gained the positions back through strategy and staying out of trouble, and I handed the car over in a decent spot. Then unfortunately we had a tyre issue mid-way through and that ruined our race. It’s one of those things that happens but in the end we recovered P10 from it. Not an ideal day but let’s see what we can do better at the next two races.”
Fabio Scherer: “It felt like everything went wrong for me today. The tyre issue cost us a good position and our race. It’s a painful one because I expected more from Spa."
Paul Di Resta: “Difficult race today. We started in an okay position and Bijoy [Garg] had a clean start. But in Fabio’s stint, we had a tyre failure … and from there you’re fighting an uphill battle.”
MANAGEMENT
Max Gregory, MD: “It was a typically hectic race in Spa today … but without the rain. The drivers successfully navigated the big incidents in the early stages, but then our luck ran out with contact from other cars and tyre issues dropping us down the field. The #21 car in particular had a really strong week. They’ve shown great pace in practice and Daniel Schneider had a solid Qualifying session. It’s a real shame not to see them on the podium today. For the #22, it was always going to be a challenge starting from the back of the grid, but they were in the fight until another car sent Filip [Ugran] spinning. The #23 were looking strong too, but a tyre failure with 90 minutes to go is almost impossible to recover from. We will continue working hard, as always, to secure the results we deserve. Mugello is going to be a new challenge but I’m confident the team will be prepared to attack.”
