United Autosports Aiming For Rolex 24 At Daytona Race Honors On US Dйbut
* Second 24 hour race for American-owned team -- first race in North America
* Stellar driver line-up for United Autosports with Michael Shank Racing entry
Mark Blundell (GB), Zak Brown (USA), Martin Brundle (GB) and Mark Patterson (USA) contest the 49th Rolex 24 At Daytona in Florida (USA) over January 29-30 -- North America's only twice-around-the-clock sports car race which marks the maiden race on "home soil" for the American-owned United Autosports team.
The Anglo-American quartet race a Riley-Ford Daytona Prototype at the legendary Daytona International Speedway located 60-miles north of Orlando, the historic race staged on a 3.56-mile, 12-turn course utilizing sections of the recently re-paved DIS "oval" plus infield section.
United Autosports was formed last year to compete primarily in the FIA GT3 European Championship with a brace of Audi R8 LMS GT3 class sports cars operated out of a raceshop in England and has joined forces with GRAND-AM regular entrant Michael Shank Racing for its first race on US soil.
United Autosports Chairman and Co-Owner Zak Brown is no stranger to the Rolex 24 At Daytona but races a DP for the first time while fellow American Mark Patterson is a "veteran" of eight Rolex 24 events having finished second in 2006.
1988 Daytona 24 Hour race winner Martin Brundle is contesting his first international sportscar race since finishing third in the 24 Hours of Le Mans 10 years ago -- a race the Englishman won in 1990. Brundle, who also finished second at Daytona in '90 -- his only other Rolex 24 entry -- shares a racecar for the very first time in his lengthy and illustrious career with fellow former 24 Hours of Le Mans race winner and Grand Prix Formula One ace Mark Blundell who set the #23 Riley's fastest lap (1min 40.904secs) at the "Roar Before the 24" earlier this month (January 9) -- Mark's first ever visit to the Daytona facility. Brundle set a personal fastest within a hundredth of a second of Blundell's time with Brown and Patterson also on the pace.
-source: united autosports
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Brown "sympathetic" to Williams F1 but warns against CapEx spending spree
Brown: F1 must do better after watching Austria track limits saga happen
McLaren F1 team boss Brown to race GT4 for United Autosports
Brake issues hinder Rosenqvist’s chances for victory in Long Beach
Shank ecstatic with “epically big” maiden IndyCar pole
Castroneves: How I kept it under control to make Indy 500 history
Full-time IndyCar move “an option” says supersub Pourchaire
When Senna broke his F1 duck by walking on water
Josh Berry "not necessarily panicked" over tough 2024 season
Greg Biffle among new 2025 NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments