United Autosports race in the 2025 ELMS 4 Hours of Silverstone
This weekend, the United Autosports crew raced in the UK for the first time in seven years as the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) returned to British soil. The LMP2 and LMGT3 crew battled through the incoming storm with big incidents on track, Safety Cars and three red flags – the third bringing the four-hour race to a premature end.
The #21 LMP2 Pro/Am crew secured their fourth top five finish in five races so far this season, with P5 for Daniel Schneider, Oliver Jarvis and Marino Sato - securing more championship points following on from their podium finish at Spa-Francorchamps last month (read more). The #22 LMP2 finished P10 while the #23 McLaren LMGT3, hit by an electronic issue in the third hour, was forced to retire (DNF).
Oliver Jarvis, Marino Sato and Daniel Schneider - #21 United Autosports LMP2 Pro/Am entry in the 2025 European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Silverstone
#21 LMP2 PRO/AM
QUALI P6 | RACE P5 | CHAMP P5
It was tough from the off for the Pro/Am line-up, with Daniel Schneider – starting from P6 – being caught up in an unavoidable incident which sent the ORECA 07 straight into the pits for a nose and tyre change, putting the Brazilian driver at the back of the field for the first of numerous restarts throughout the race.
Oliver Jarvis took on the challenge, with a second nose change and penalty in the previous stint to recover from. The Brit put in a stellar shift after the red flag restart, going fastest on track, closing in on the leaders, and working his way past numerous LMP2 challengers along the way - putting the #21 in podium contention (P3) before the wet weather arrived.
The crew stopped for wets and changed to WEC Lone Star Le Mans race winner Marino Sato (read more) who carried on the good work, overtaking the car ahead on his second lap and closing in on the top three. However, an issue which is currently being investigated by the team gave Sato a hard task and, struggling for pace, dropped a couple of places in the final stages, ultimately putting the #21 P5 at the finish.
Daniel Schneider: “This was the most eventful race that I have ever been in! The start was really hard. I was collected by another car which I couldn’t do anything about – so that compromised a bit of the race and the strategy. But then I had contact with an LMP3 trying to recover some places and that put us on the back foot completely. Nevertheless, at some point we were fighting for the lead! There’s a lot of lessons to be learned from this race, from the beginning to the end … so I’m going to learn those lessons. I hope for better weather and a better race in Portimao.”
Oliver Jarvis: “Disappointing home race! It was a very eventful opening hour and a half, with yellows and two red flags by the time I got in the car. We had a really strong car today, we were able to fight, close the gap in front and make a few good passes – and I think by the time I boxed I had brought the car up to P3, we even went up to P2 at one point leaving the pits. We were looking good for a podium and potentially fighting for the win but in the last hour and a half in the wet, Marino seemed to really struggle with the car – we need to go away and analyse that. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the race we were hoping for or looked like we were capable of getting – so we’ll go away, refocus, rebuild and look forward to Portimao.”
Marino Sato: “It was a struggle out there. Daniel had a rough first hour, but Olly had a really strong drive that put us back in the game. We changed the driver to me a little earlier than we had originally planned due to the weather. It was raining but I was struggling for grip. On the first lap, I’d say I felt more confident than the other cars but after that I couldn’t find it. It was really tough and difficult to describe back to the team – so we need to investigate what went on. I look forward to Portimao for the final race of the 2025 season, hopefully we can get another result there.”
Ben Hanley, Manuel Maldonado and Gregoire Saucy - #22 United Autosports LMP2 entry in the 2025 European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Silverstone
#22 LMP2
QUALI P7 | RACE P10 | CHAMP P12
In the #22 LMP2 pro challenger, Gregoire Saucy, Ben Hanley and Manuel Maldonado had a clean race on track, successfully avoiding numerous, significant crashes and spins. Maldonado navigated two red flag restarts, handing over to British driver Hanley who fought to find a gap in the field, establishing their place in the top five. Gregoire Saucy continued the good work in the wet weather. Strategically, however, the race was not kind to the #22 crew with other teams able to take advantage of time-efficient pitstops under Virtual Safety Car, an emergency stop for fuel and – the final blow – the red flag finish falling when the #22 had already completed their final pit stop, dropping them down the order to P10.
Manuel Maldonado: “A difficult race this weekend, with an unfortunate ending. Things were really looking good, fighting in the top five until the red flag put us to the back of the pack. Finishing P10 is really disappointing considering we had a pretty good race throughout. We’ve got one race left, a chance to give it our all for one last time this season.”
Ben Hanley: “Pretty disappointing end to the race, considering we were fighting in the top five up until around three-quarter distance maybe. We just had a bit of an offset on strategy which ended up really biting us hard at the end of the race, because it meant that we had taken our last stop and other people hadn’t – and then the race got red flagged, so we ended up having a massive loss on that. But obviously you can’t predict an early end to the race, so just a shame really, we seemed to end up on the wrong strategy and that kind of ruined our potential for a top five or four position.”
Gregoire Saucy: “For me it was quite a tricky race, from the start our strategy was different to the others. We weren’t good at the end because we had to do an extra stop for fuel. At the end for me we had quite a lot of rain, it wasn’t very easy, I tried to gain some positions, I gained one or two at the end – I was P7 or P6 – and then we did the stop just before the red flag so we ended up P10. So not so good weekend for us, but I’m sure altogether we will work hard until Portimao and try to finish in a good way.”
Wayne Boyd, Michael Birch and Garnet Patterson - #23 United Autosports LMGT3 entry in the 2025 European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Silverstone
#23 LMGT3
QUALI P5 | RACE DNF | CHAMP P13
Michael Birch kicked off the weekend with his strongest qualifying of the season, taking P5 for the McLaren in the competitive ELMS field - less than one second away from the front row for his home race on his debut sportscar season.
Birch had strong pace from the start, taking P4 and closing the gap to P3. A small error handed a hefty 58 second penalty to the McLaren crew for exiting the pitlane early, however the #23 stayed on the lead lap with Aussie Garnet Patterson waiting in the wings.
Patterson flew around the iconic British circuit as the wet weather closed in, climbing up the order and bringing an exciting result into view. However, during Patterson’s stint, the McLaren GT3 EVO – which had climbed from P12 to P6 – was hit by an electrical issue, cutting the #23 crew’s weekend short with a disappointing DNF.
Michael Birch: “We went into the weekend feeling we had a strong car that would be competitive around Silverstone. We had a decent qualifying run in damp conditions at P5, and ran well in the race climbing to P3 but had to retire the car due to an electrical issue. The team worked really hard all weekend to give us a good car, so we look forward to the last round at Portimao with confidence.”
Garnet Patterson: “It was a really strong start to the race at Silverstone. Michael did a great job running comfortably inside the top five during his stints. Unfortunately, some pit penalties set us back, but our pace was strong, and we were clawing back towards the front before an electrical failure forced us into the garage. Overall, it was a great weekend — big improvements, really good pace, and I’m excited for Portugal.”
Wayne Boyd: “Disappointing to not finish the race on our first time back at Silverstone after a few years. The McLaren was absolutely flying, I can’t thank all the team enough for giving us such a fast car. I thought Michael took yet another step forward this weekend, his pace was mega, he did such a good stint in the race – running up front in the top four for the majority of that was fantastic. Garnet got in, did a fantastic job, his pace was very strong – and then unfortunately we developed an electrical problem that forced us to retire. Overall, lots of positives to take from this weekend and to the final round of the season. Thanks to everyone for all their efforts as always.”
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Max Gregory: “Silverstone delivered all the excitement this weekend – sadly, it was a mixed bag of results for the team, but we saw some fantastic drives out there which were absolutely podium-deserving. I would like to thank all the friends and family who came to Silverstone in their hundreds to enjoy a weekend with United Autosports, and get the chance to see the amazing work their loved ones do. We know how much everyone gives to this team and this sport, and this was our way to show how much that means. Of course, these are not the results we were aiming for – but we will be back for the season finale fight in Portimao, a track which holds lots of happy memories for the team.”
The September madness is well and truly underway, with the United Autosports USA crew gearing up for the penultimate round of the 2025 IMSA championship in Indianapolis next week (19-21st September) followed by the WEC 6 Hours of Fuji (26-28th September). Stay up to date with the team as we race around the world on social @unitedautosports.