close
close

Albuquerque moves down to LMP2 to win IMSA at Mosport

Posted on by Dsen .N
Albuquerque moves down to LMP2 to win IMSA at Mosport

IMSA SportsCar Championship star Filipe Albuquerque will be relegated – but will still be in line for overall race victory – at Mosport later this month.

Albuquerque, who normally drives for the factory Wayne Taylor Racing team with Andretti Acura, will drop in for a one-off IMSA LMP2 appearance with United Autosports in Canada on July 20.

The Portuguese motor racing ace, who has 13 wins in the top IMSA class, could drop to second place as the GTP class will not race at Mosport this year.

Albuquerque drove for United at last month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, sharing the seat with Ben Keating and Ben Hanley, but the car was classified in a disappointing 42nd place. The event was won by a sister car, in the hands of Oliver Jarvis, Nolan Siegel and Bijoy Garg.

Albuquerque will team up with Daniel Goldburg in the 22nd race of the United Autosports ORECA 07, racing in place of Paul di Resta, who will be fulfilling his year-round Hypercar commitments with Peugeot Sport at the World Endurance Championship Six Hours of Sao Paolo.

“I’m really looking forward to racing at Mosport with United,” Albuquerque said. “We will race for the overall victory.

“I’ve already had the chance to meet Daniel and we got on really well. I also did a good warm-up at Le Mans to get back into LMP2. We definitely want to fight for victory.”

#23 United Autosports Oreca 07: Gibson: Ben Keating, Filipe Albuquerque, Ben Hanley

Photo: Marc Fleury

Albuquerque has never won at Mosport, but is the winner this year after defeating Ricky Taylor in Detroit last month.

He previously won the WEC and European Le Mans Series LMP2 titles with United.

Read also:

“It’s always a pleasure to race with Filipe,” said Richard Dean, CEO of United Autosports. “So with Paul having fulfilled his commitments to Peugeot in the WEC, it was an easy choice.

“Filipe is super fast, reliable and a fantastic mentor to the other drivers… I am sure Daniel will learn a lot from him in Canada.

“Unfortunately, this year the 24 Hours of Le Mans did not go as planned for Filipe and the United Autosports #23 LMP2 crew, so this is our chance to celebrate victory together in 2024.”