United Autosports attracted a lot of attention over the Daytona weekend with Fernando Alonso, Lando Norris and Phil Hanson in one of the cars while Will Owen, Hugo de Sadeleer, Paul di Resta and Bruno Senna drove the other car.
The team has already announced their intentions to run 4 cars in the European Le Mans Series 2018 in the LMP2 and LMP3 categories, just like they did in 2017, where they won the Championship in the LMP3 category, and was very close at winning the LMP2 title.
They also have plans to enter the 24 hours of Le Mans, where they already have one entry by winning the LMP3 title in the ELMS.
Now they announced their intention to race in the TPNAEC in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Phil Hanson and Bruno Senna will share a Ligier JS P217 during the Sebring 12 Hours, Watkins Glen 6 Hours and 10 Hours of Petit Le Mans. They will be joined by a yet unannounced third driver.
Photo Courtesy of IMSA / Scott R LePage, LAT Images
Hanson and Senna, as previously mentioned, were in both their separate cars in the past weekend, where especially the #32 with Senna was very close to the overall podium. Unfortunately the team had an issue with their clutch a few hours before the finish of the race, making it hard to start the car after the pitstop, which cost them some extra pitstop time. They eventually finished 4th, only four laps after P3.
The Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup (TPNAEC) has its own points system, and Bruno Senna scored 9 points in that, while Phil Hanson scored 8. The Championship leading Whelen Engineering Cadillac #31 has 17 points, so United Autosports isn’t far from the lead – especially with 18 hours still to be run.
The next round of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which also is the second round of the TPNAEC, is on 17 March, when the Sebring 12 Hours is run.
