Podium #22 Canada
This weekend in Canada, the championship-leading IMSA LMP2 crew took on the first of two sprint races this season, with two new faces behind the wheel. After two hours and 40 minutes of action-packed racing, the #22 secured their third podium of the season so far and, after a stellar debut drive for Phil Fayer in the #2, P4 for the sister ORECA 07.
The #22 car kicked off the weekend with a front row start in qualifying, with Daniel Goldburg taking P2 on the grid for the second year in a row at CTMP. The Watkins race winner (read more) took the start, keeping it clean and holding second place whilst navigating through GTD traffic. As the first Full Course Yellow was deployed, Goldburg’s drive time was complete, making it the perfect time for guest driver Tom Blomqvist, who last raced with United Autosports in 2023, to jump in the car.
Blomqvist commenced his stint in a condensed field, courtesy of the Full Course Yellow, having lost the gap Goldburg had built up to the cars behind. Initially, Blomqvist dropped back a few places, however a slick pitstop jumped the car ahead putting the #22 just shy of the top three.
With 30 minutes left on the clock, the leading GTD went into the tyre wall, causing another FCY, bumping the #22 back into the top three. Then, in the final 17 minutes, the race-leading LMP2 hit the wall finishing the race under a yellow flag and awarding the #22 car second place on the podium (P2).
In the sister #2 ORECA 07, Canadian driver Phil Fayer made his debut in the Stateside series, alongside full season pro Ben Hanley. Fayer battled hard in his first qualifying session, putting the #2 LMP2 P7 on the starting grid for the sprint. Taking the start, the Nuvei CEO battled in traffic - taking a short spin that brushed the wall – before finding his rhythm, comfortably holding off the competition behind. After the first FCY, Fayer handed the car over to Hanley in P7 at the halfway point.
Hanley, with years of IMSA experience under his belt, battled the backlog of yellow flag traffic, taking P6 following a drive-through for the car in front. Shortly after, the LMP2 race leader went in the wall, putting the #2 in the top five. A drive through penalty for the car ahead gained the #2 another position, taking the checkered flag behind the Safety Car in P4 – securing solid points for the championship to close out the top five weekend.
#22 UA Mosport podium
#22 ORECA 07
QUALI P2 | RACE P2 | CHAMP P1
Daniel Goldburg: “It was a hot and hectic day in Canada. My one-hour-plus in the car was good with green flags until the first Full Course Yellow when my drive time was already up, so it was an hour of non-stop pushing and navigating through GTD traffic. I was constantly pushing to keep the TDS car behind me, trying to stay close to the AO, but they were really fast today. It was great working with Tom, and he brought it home P2 for us. Which, along with my quali points, extends our lead in the championship ... it’s a good day!”
Tom Blomqvist: “In the end a pretty solid result, starting where we finished. It wasn’t that straight forward out there. Daniel did a fantastic job at the start of the race to maintain second place – then I jumped in under a yellow, so it bunched the field up quite a bit because we had quite a nice margin before that point. When I got in I felt alright, I struggled a little bit if I’m totally honest with what I had ... it took a while to get in the groove, in the traffic flow. I wasn’t too happy with how I drove at the very beginning, I lost a couple of spots – but thankfully the team did an amazing job in the pitstops and we were able to crawl back from that. I felt a lot better there, at the end on the last fuel, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish the race pushing, with the race finishing under yellow. Hopefully, the driver of the Inter Europol car is ok, as that’s never nice to see. Second place is obviously great, great for Dan in the championship, he extends that lead – at the end you’ve got to be happy with that.”
#2 UA Mosport
#2 ORECA 07
QUALI P7 | RACE P4 | CHAMP P9
Phil Fayer: “Mosport is such a special track — fast, technical, and unforgiving. This weekend was incredibly hot and physical, but I loved every second back behind the wheel. The United Autosports team were fantastic to work with, and I learned so much throughout the weekend. I feel there’s still more to come from our performance, and I can’t wait to build on this result.”
Ben Hanley: “Ended up P4 – a really good first race from Phil. He had a little half spin and a clip of the wall and that just knocked the car out of balance a little bit so we were hanging in there and got as much out of it as we could. Thanks to the crew for everything. They did good pit stops and that really kept us in the game ... no more mistakes and we ended up P4.”
MANAGEMENT
Richard Dean: “Great result for both cars this weekend! Taking home a P2 podium and a P4 for Phil’s first race, I’d say is a stellar weekend all around. Daniel Goldburg was incredibly fast this weekend, just shy of pole position but taking a P2 podium alongside Tom Blomqvist, filling in for Paul Di Resta - keeping the #22 ahead of the championship.
Phil drove exceptionally well for his first race weekend in the LMP2, putting in fast laps throughout practice and qualifying, alongside ‘the ever impressive and reliable’ Ben Hanley. Taking home P4 in your first IMSA race is something to be proud of!”