Paul Di Resta will once again be in a United Autosports entry for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2021.
The Scot will the lead driver of the team’s third car in this year’s race.
Di Resta took Pole Position for the 2020 edition with the team, and was part of the winning combo with Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson, but those three drivers are not allowed to race together this year, since Hanson has been upgraded to Gold ranking, and it’s not allowed to run Platinum, Platinum, and Gold in the same car.
It was announced earlier that Albuquerque and Hanson will have Swiss driver Fabio Scherer as the Silver ranked driver for the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship, so he will be the third driver in car #22 at Le Mans, which counts towards the championship too.
Car #32 only has Nico Jamin announced so far. Jamin is paired up with Manuel Maldonado and Job van Uitert in the European Le Mans Series, but the latter will be racing for Racing Team Nederland at the 24-hour race. The status of Maldonado at Le Mans is not yet known – but there is nothing strange about that, since that race wasn’t part of the original announcement, when he was announced as ELMS driver for the team.
Photo: JJ Media
Paul Di Resta will, be racing car #23, which is an extra entry, that will run in either the ELMS or the FIA WEC. The reason for the team still being allowed to run is due to their success in 2020. The team won a handful of automatic invitations for the 24 hours race, and two of those will be used for car #23 and #32. Car #22 is part of the race anyway, since they are part of the FIA WEC field – which they won too in the 2019/20 season. That title doesn’t result in one of those invitations – but they are awarded for ELMS LMP2 1-2, ELMS LMP3 1st, Asian Le Mans Series LMP3 1st, and the Le Mans LMP2 win in 2020.
The full entry list for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2021 will be released tomorrow, Tuesday.
