United Autosports will make it five consecutive appearances in the GT Cup when they race at Macau in November, making it the team’s 94th race of the season.
Those 94 races have come in a variety of disciplines, including the BTCC, Ginetta GT4 Supercup, British GT and the GT Cup Championship as well as other “one-off” prestigious motorsport events, including races such as the Le Mans Classic and the Bathurst 12 Hours, covering 31 weekends of action.
The latest on the calendar, the Macau GT Cup, is an invitational race for GT3 class cars and has grown in prominence on the calendar, attracting top entries such as newly-crowned DTM and Blancpain Endurance championship winning drivers Marco Wittman and Laurens Vanthoor.
While the allure is strong, it’s a logistical challenge for the Anglo-American team, yet Team Owner and Managing Director Richard Dean sees the benefits.
“The logistics of getting our two McLarens and team crew out to Macau are tricky, it’s definitely worth it once we get there,” said Dean. “It’s one of the highlights in our team calendar. We’ll be aiming for our fifth consecutive podium finish. We have a great driver line-up again in Richard and Danny so we are feeling positive going into the event.”
The 12 lap race will see the team’s Macau regulars, Danny Watts and Richard Meins, return to the demanding 3.85 mile street circuit.
With the track’s challenges all to clear, the team will race a car of pedigree. The brace of McLaren MP4-12C GT3 cars will once again race, with the machines having raced in series such as British GT in the past.
More recently, Watts and Meins took the McLarens to second and sixth respectively in last year’s Macau round.
For Watts, not only is he returning to a familiar track, but also offers a chance to put a frustrating year behind him.
“My last race was actually last year’s GT Cup race in the McLaren at Macau when I finished second,” said Watts. “It’s been a frustrating year as all I want to do is race but I’ve learnt to be patient and it makes you even hungrier and motivated to get back out racing. I had a 10-lap shakedown on the Silverstone National circuit last month to get the feeling back with the McLaren.”
Meins also had a shakedown at Silverstone, but heads to a familiar event on the back of a busy racing year.
“This year marks my 14th racing at Macau,” reflected Meins. “I achieved my best result last year, although I was sixth in a Touring car race there many years ago. Last year’s achievement was a great result in such a competitive field. I’ve been doing lots of different things this year including racing an Aston Martin in the GT4 Challenge at Oulton Park, an Audi TT at the Nürburgring, a Ford Mondeo Super Tourer in the Silverstone Classic, a Lola T70 at Silverstone, Zandvoort and Spa, an E-Type Jaguar at the Goodwood Revival, and a Ford GT40 at Goodwood and Spa so it’s been an enjoyable and busy year.”
It’s not just Meins with the busy year, with United Autosports creeping closer to a triple digit race number this calendar year.
