- Former outright winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours will race one of the team’s Ligier JS P3 cars
- Sky F1 commentator and former Formula One driver reunited with Ligier
- Brundle last raced for United Autosports in 2011, alongside Zak Brown
- Christian England joins Brundle for hour long race
Martin Brundle will drive for United Autosports in the inaugural Le Mans LMP3 race – The Road to Le Mans – in June.
The former Formula One driver and current Sky F1 commentator will drive one of the team’s Ligier JS P3 cars in the hour-long race – a support event at the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours on 18 June. Martin will coincidentally race the same Onroak Automotive manufactured chassis his son, Alex, drives in the European Le Mans Series – the car that won the team’s maiden ELMS race at Silverstone earlier this month (16 Apr).
After 158 Formula One race starts, with manufacturers such as McLaren, Jordan, Brabham, Tyrrell and Williams, Martin will be reunited with the Ligier brand, with whom he raced in Formula One in 1993 and 1995.
Martin is no stranger to Le Mans, having raced in the main event eight times, winning in 1990. He is also a familiar face to United Autosports as he competed in the 2011 Daytona 24 Hours alongside Zak Brown, Mark Patterson and Mark Blundell in a Riley Daytona Prototype, finishing fourth.
Martin will be joined by United Autosports European Le Mans Series race winner, Christian England, who has returned to racing after a 13 year absence. Christian raced in the British Formula Ford Championship back in 2001 and 2002 and was nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 2002. On his return to racing, Christian won the opening race of the 2016 ELMS at Silverstone, alongside Alex Brundle and Mike Guasch.
The Road to Le Mans event begins on Wednesday 16th June with a 60-minute free practice session. On Thursday, there will be another 60-minute practice session, followed by 30-minute qualifying. The 60-minute race will be held on Saturday 18th June, only a few hours before the feature Le Mans event.
Martin Brundle, Driver, United Autosports:
“This golden opportunity allows me to drive the full Le Mans circuit again in a Prototype racecar. It’s always such a pleasure and privilege to drive that magnificent circuit, so I grabbed the opportunity to rejoin United Autosports, after our last successful adventure in the 2011 Daytona 24 hours, and along with our longstanding sponsor Richard Mille, to once again race a Ligier. At 57 years of age I consider this a wonderful and unexpected bonus.”
Christian England, Driver, United Autosports:
“Coming off the back of our hugely successful debut in the European Le Mans Series, I am absolutely delighted to be joining forces with Martin Brundle for this year’s LMP3 support race to the Le Mans 24 Hours. It will be a huge privilege for me to race on such an iconic circuit and alongside a great of our sport like Martin. The aim is to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hour race in the coming years and what better way to prepare and gain some experience of the whole weekend. If you’d have said to me six months ago I would be back racing again I wouldn’t have believed it, and yet here we are entering a race at Le Mans. I’m a competitive animal and I know Martin is, so we will be working hard to bring the car home victorious and I can’t wait to get started. I want to say a huge thanks to everyone at United Autosports for the hard work this season already and especially to Richard [Dean], Zak [Brown] and of course everyone at Gala Tent for giving me this fantastic opportunity.”
Richard Dean, Team Owner and Managing Director, United Autosports:
“Martin Brundle to race for United Autosports at Le Mans in a Ligier…sounds very exciting to me! Martin loves Le Mans and he loves prototype racing, he has shown great faith in the team by entrusting his son Alex with us in the ultra-competitive LMP3 category of the ELMS this year. Martin is the ultimate professional and a former outright Le Mans 24 Hours winner so will bring with him a lot of expertise and experience to our LMP3 team. This experience will help not only his team mate Christian England but the whole team too as we look to continue to improve in every aspect of our organisation. The Road to Le Mans is a great platform for drivers to get to race round the iconic Le Mans circuit and all of it during the build up and atmosphere for the famous 24-hour race. I am also delighted Christian is joining Martin in the Ligier JS P3 car. After a 13 year break from racing and coming back and winning his first ELMS race at Silverstone, we couldn’t be happier that Christian is joining us. This is a very exciting line up for the Le Mans event and I can’t wait to see how they get on.”