WINNERS IN IMSA
The second sprint race of the IMSA WeatherTech season saw the #2 crew of Ben Keating and Ben Hanley claim United Autosports’ first victory in the North American championship – which was made all the sweeter after a difficult start to the weekend at Road America.
In the final laps of FP2, the #2 ORECA 07 made contact with the wall. The damage sustained gave the team just five hours to rebuild almost the entire car, if they wanted to make it to qualifying later that day.
After a phenomenal effort, the #2 was ready for qualifying with less than 30 minutes to go – and the hard work was rewarded with a strong qualifying result courtesy of Ben Keating, which put the #2 crew in second place on the grid for the IMSA Sportscar Weekend at Road America.
On race day, Ben Keating took the start and the lead during the first hour of the sprint race, handing over to Ben Hanley who raced the #2 ORECA 07 consistently in the top three. With 30 minutes to go, Hanley took the lead and locked in United Autosports’ historic first IMSA victory.
For the #22 car - driven by Daniel Goldburg and Paul Di Resta – it was another strong qualifying, securing P3 on the grid. Goldburg took the start and did a great job in the first hour. A drive through penalty set the team back but they were ready for the fight, climbing back up into podium contention.
With fuel advantage on the competition and a flying lap time of 1:54.584, the second half of the race was looking strong for the #22 – however, a safety car was deployed one lap earlier than the #22 car had planned to stop, taking away their strategic advantage and dropping the crew dramatically down to P11 at the end of a thrilling sprint race.
The next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the Battle of the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday 22nd of September. Stay up to date with all the latest on social @unitedautosports.
IMSA Winners Ben Hanley and Ben Keating
#2 ORECA 07
QUALI P2 | RACE P1 | CHAMP P4
Ben Keating: “So grateful for the team this weekend. All the guys put in so much effort to rebuild the car in time for qualifying, after I completely demolished it in free practice two. When I went out, the car felt so good and inspired so much confidence that I qualified on the front row for the race. For some reason, I have always loved this track, my last win was here! I just love this place, and it showed in my stint. I managed to take the lead at the start and I never gave it up, putting in some really good laps. Things went our way for the first time this season. We have been unlucky so far, but this time we managed to get into the pits before the yellows. It’s great to look back and say we made all the right calls and finally get a win here, it feels really good for us and the whole team.”
Ben Hanley: “A huge thank you to the whole United team! Ben had a little off in FP2 and it was a monumental task to get the car ready and out for qualifying ... the United Autosports crew did that and this is the reward for them. We have had great pace all season really, it just hasn’t fallen for us. A lot of the debriefs have been ... “unfortunately such and such happened” but this time we were aggressive when we needed to be and keep it at the front. A big thanks to everybody.”
Daniel Goldburg and Paul Di Resta IMSA
#22 ORECA 07
QUALI P3 | RACE P11 | CHAMP P5
Daniel Goldburg: “Another tough one. Ups and downs today. The first big issue was losing lots of positions in the pits, after a pit stop for both cars at the same time. That put us off strategy so we came in for a "free" fuel top up. Then I exited the pits when it was closed, which cost us a drive through penalty of 60 seconds. That really hurt us ... but I have learnt that lesson for the future! Then we got Paul in and he crushed it! He passed half the field on the restart lap and all the sudden we were 3rd with fuel advantage... we likely would have come out of the next stop in the lead. But... it's IMSA racing! A yellow came out on our in lap and blew our day. Lots to learn, so we take it as it comes and keep going.”
Paul Di Resta: “Massively disappointing given the fight back we had – we had fuel advantage on all the cars we were racing and a yellow flag came a lap earlier than we were going to stop. But I think without that, we were going to come out in the race lead with a very strong package that we’ve had all week. It would have been a nice way to reward the team. It wasn’t ideal to get a drive through penalty at the end ... that hurt us, but we’ll keep fighting. It’s great to have the speed and we are definitely in the race, but everything needs to run smoothly to get the result we want. Onwards and upwards to the next one.”
CEO
Richard Dean: “This win feels like it has taken an age to come, having been on the front row every race so far this season but still somehow missing the top step of the podium. The team got the best reward possible for the stellar work in getting the #2 car repaired after the qualifying accident. Our two Bens were faultless and fast! Daniel and Paul also looked like they could win this race at the mid-way point but it wasn’t to be. I am sure their race win is coming soon.”