Two races on the same day!
United Autosports are preparing for the third round of the European Le Mans Series and the fourth round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup this weekend at Barcelona (19-20 July).
The 4 Hours of Barcelona marks the first time United Autosports will race modern day sports cars at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the only previous time the team have raced there was earlier this year with the historics team.
Last time out at Monza, the LMP2 team finished on the podium, with the #32 crew of Ryan Cullen, Alex Brundle and Will Owen finishing third and the #22 team of Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque finishing fourth. The LMP3 team also finished on the podium, with a third place for Garett Grist, Tommy Erdos and Wayne Boyd in the #2 Ligier JS P3. The #3 Ligier of Mike Guasch and Christian England fared less well as they lost time in the pits after starter motor failure. They recovered to finish 10th.
The Michelin Le Mans Cup team last raced at Le Mans with three top-nine finishes in the second race of the weekend. Jim McGuire and Matt Bell finished sixth in the AERO Ligier JS P3, with Wayne Boyd and Naj Husain finishing seventh and Garett Grist and Rob Hodes finishing ninth. Mike Guasch will return to the Le Mans Cup at Barcelona, once again partnering Wayne Boyd.
The Anglo American team will celebrate their 300th race start on Saturday evening as the flag drops for the ELMS night race at 18:30. Over 300 races, the team have scored 152 podiums, with 51 wins, 49 pole positions and six championship wins. In ELMS alone, the team have scored 12 wins, three pole positions, 28 podiums and two championship since they first entered the series in 2016.
The Barcelona race weekend begins on Friday 19 July with Michelin Le Mans Cup free practice one at 13:15. The two-hour Michelin Le Mans Cup race will be held on Saturday 20 July at 13:00, with the 4 Hours of Barcelona beginning later that evening.
Wayne Boyd (GB), driver car #2 and #24, United Autosports: Born: Belfast, Northern Ireland. Lives: Templepatrick, Northern Ireland. Age: 28 “I’m really excited to race at Barcelona. I’ve never raced there before but I did do a test in F3 there a few years ago, so at least I’m not going in blind. As for it being a night race, I’ve never raced at night before so it’s something I’m definitely looking forward to. Monza was a more promising round for us, getting a podium but we want more than that, we are aiming for the championship this year so hopefully Barcelona and the rest of the circuits that are still to come are going to suit us a bit better. We had a good race last time out [in the Michelin Le Mans Cup race] after a disappointing qualifying, but to get back up into the top-six was a really good result and hopefully Mike and I can build on that. Doing both series over one weekend is great for working out a suitable car set up, which also helps the team out. I’m looking forward to getting back in the car with Mike too. It seems ages since we raced together in Monza.”
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