Podium in both LMP2 and LMP3 for United Autosports
United Autosports scored a double podium in the second round of the European Le Mans Series as both their LMP2 and LMP3 teams finished third at Monza.
The #32 Ligier JS P217 driven by Ryan Cullen, Will Owen and Alex Brundle finished third, while the #22 Ligier JS P217 of Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque finished fourth. The United Autosports LMP3 team matched their result of 12 months ago as the #2 Ligier JS P3 of Garett Grist, Wayne Boyd and Tommy Erdos finished third. Not only did the #32 finish third, but Will Owen also scored the second fastest lap of race.
The race has given United Autosports their best results at Monza in three years of racing at the home of the Italian Grand Prix, a track that has not been the kindest to them in the past.
Garett Grist and Christian England lined up sixth and 11th respectively for the 4 Hours of Monza ELMS. Both had great starts with Garett running as high as fourth by the second lap. Christian had also moved the #3 Ligier up to ninth on lap two. Unfortunately the pace of the Normas was too strong for Garett to maintain fourth, running in seventh until pitting on lap 32 and handing the #2 over to Wayne Boyd. Christian pitted the #3 a lap later, but unfortunately was unable to restart the car leading to a lengthy pit stop, which included pushing him back into the garage while the problem was investigated. After 37 minutes in the pits, Christian resumed with a new started motor fitted, albeit 20 laps down. Wayne pitted on lap 69 from second to hand the #2 over to Tommy Erdos who had some great battles on track. Christian meanwhile had pitted with one hour and 50 minutes remaining to hand over to Mike Guasch, the pair now using the time as a test session. Unfortunately Mike had a few trips into the gravel, one of which caused and FCY but crucially they didn’t lose any positions. With 45 minutes remaining, Tommy pitted for a final fuel stop and rejoined the track in fourth. A spin for the second placed car ahead promoted Tommy to third, a position he maintained until the flag. Mike Guasch ultimately crossed the line in 10th place. This weekend marks the second consecutive year the United Autosports LMP3 team finished on the podium, which this year was a Ligier JS P3 lockout with all three top spots claimed by the French manufacturer.
Wayne Boyd(GB), driver car #2, United Autosports: Born: Belfast, Northern Ireland. Lives: Templepatrick, Northern Ireland. Age: 28 “If someone told us yesterday we were going to get a podium today we would have definitely taken that. Fantastic job by Garett, Tommy, Simon and the boys in the pit stops, it was Simon’s strategy that got us this podium so shout out to the whole crew.”