United Autosports has to do another tweak to their 2024 season drivers.
This time it hits the European Le Mans Series line-up, after having to change plans amongst the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers in previous months.
The team has come to the conclusion, that Filipe Albuquerque will be too busy in the IMSA championship, where the Portuguese driver will be racing for Wayne Taylor Racing in the GTP category. Albuquerque has been a fixed member of UA for many years, but there has always been a lot of issue with date clashes between IMSA and a FIA WEC or ELMS programme.
Photo: JJ Media
UA has chosen to give the seat to Paul Di Resta. The Scottish racing driver has a long history with the team, where he often has been called up as a reserve driver, if other drivers were unavailable. So he already knows the team and the ORECA 07 Gibson LMP2 car very well, and will be a big asset to the team alongside Fabio Scherer. Di Resta will also be doing some IMSA racing, but that is for UA in the LMP2 category, where there are no clashes with ELMS.
The third driver for car #23 is not announced yet. But it is certain to be a maximum Silver-rated driver per regulation. There are still a few quick silver-ranked drivers out there, who haven’t had a contract for the ELMS.
The European Le Mans Series 2024 starts with a testing on 8 April, followed by the first race of the season on 14 April at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
