Scotland’s Paul Di Resta claimed his maiden Le Mans 24 Hour race victory today (SUN) – a dominant win which earned his United Autosports team the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship LMP2 class title with one race remaining.
The 34-year-old Scotsman along with Phi Hanson (England) and Filipe Albuquerque (Portugal), won the annual twice-around-the-clock endurance sportscar race in France by almost 33seconds.
Their United Autosports Oreca started from pole-position on Saturday afternoon courtesy of Di Resta the previous day and was in contention for victory throughout, ultimately clocking 3,134-miles at an average speed of 130mph to earn the trio an LMP2 victory and fifth place overall. Di Resta was competing in his third Le Mans 24 Hours aiming to improve on a previous best fourth-place finish achieved last year.
Ex-F1 driver Di Resta earns the runners-up position in the prestigious world LMP2 Driver’s title standings having scored four podium top-three finishes – including consecutive wins in Bahrain, North America and Belgium. Paul missed the team’s race in Japan last November due to prior DTM commitments. Hanson and Albuquerque, along with substitute Oliver Jarvis, achieved third-place in Japan which earns Di Resta’s team-mates, Hanson and Albuquerque, the title. The final round of the eight-race series takes place in Bahrain on 14 November.
DI RESTA said “To win Le Mans is exceptional, especially taking into account that we have now won the last four consecutive WEC races – that’s something quite unique. I was fastest in Hyperpole to secure us pole-position with an LMP2 lap record. Ofcourse with no fans here this year, it hasn’t been the same atmosphere but it was a great race right up until the end. It’ll take a while for me for this Le Mans victory to sink in. The team was magnificent all week and our car never missed a beat.”
