United Autosports drivers Oliver Jarvis, Alex Lynn and Filipe Albuquerque were upbeat on their chances of success at the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of monza, despite some misfortune earlier in the year.
Speaking to MotorsportWeek.com, all three of them echoed each other about their expectations and hopes for this weekend’s race, taking place at a sweltering Monza in northern Italy.
“It’s extremely close this weekend, and it’s going to come down to very fine margins, but I think we’re right in the fight, so that should be good fun,” said Lynn. The Brit set the #22 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson’s fastest lap in free practice 2, a 1:39.315, but it’s clear both Jarvis and Lynn think more pace can be extracted from the car.
Albuquerque, meanwhile, in the sister #22 car, set the LMP2 fastest lap in free practice 2, 1:38.917. He too is optimistic about the car’s potential at Monza, saying he could “guarantee we’d be competitive” but nothing more than that, as “there are too many good drivers in this series, and we have to respect all of them”. The Portuguese drives the car along with Philip Hanson and Will Owen.
Both United cars have had their fair share of misfortune this year. “It’s just disappointing results this year, not being able to realise our potential,” said Albuquerque. “Qualifying means nothing, it’s all about the race, but we’ve had the pace to go. But, as we know in endurance racing, the fastest car doesn’t always win.”
The big bit of misfortune for Albuquerque and his teammates came at Le Mans, when Owen was squeezed by the two WRT cars on the first laop and ended up in the Dunlop corner gravel trap. “Maybe, on reflection, it would have been better to qualify P5 instead of P2 there!” says Albuquerque with a smile on his face.
The #23 car, which Jarvis and Lynn drive together with youngster Josh Pierson, have had a better season, although they too have suffered misfortune. ‘We got off to a great start, winning Sebring and almost at Spa until we had the issue with the door, when we were P2 with a bit of a gap to P3. There were some issues with tyres early on, which maybe put us outy of contention for the win, but we should have at least salvaged a podium, when we analyse our efforts there.
“So yeah the pace has absolutely been there. I mean, we’re here to win the championship, so the aim is to go out and beat the #38 Jota car and finish ahead of the WRT car, and we’re still in the fight.
