Paul di Resta believes the Lone Star Le Mans round of the FIA World Endurance Championship will be a crucial time to get car reliability right with the 1000 Miles of Sebring also looming on the horizon.
Di Resta and United Autosports are heading to Circuit of the Americas with plenty of momentum on their side after a dominant win at the previous round in Bahrain. The #22 ORECA 07-Gibson, which Di Resta shares with Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque, has been struck by number of mechanical issues in the first rounds of the championship but has slowly been gaining momentum since.
The Anglo-American team, which makes it racing debut at the United States Grand Prix venue, now sits second in the LMP2 standings behind Jackie Chan DC Racing.
“It’s nice to get back to racing again. COTA is a good addition to the calendar after the cancellation of the Brazil round,” di Resta said. “I’m looking forward to going back. I’ve raced there a couple of times in F1 and have been every year since. There’s a great buzz about the place.
The six-hour race in Texas is the first in a double-header of American rounds in the 2019/20 championship, as the 1000 Miles of Sebring follows less than a month later as part of the Super Sebring weekend.
It’s a big weekend for the team. We are clawing our way back in the championship and hopefully we will have a flawless weekend following on from Bahrain where we pulled everything together and managed to secure a great result.
“From there it’s a quick dash to Sebring so it’s a crucial time in the calendar to make sure reliability is key and as drivers and a team we are all focussed on doing the job we need to do.”
