How a team founded by Zak Brown and Richard Dean grew into a multi-series operation with two Le Mans LMP2 wins, a 2025 Daytona victory and a McLaren hypercar programme.
United Autosports is a sports car team founded in 2009 by Zak Brown and Richard Dean and based in Wakefield, England. It won the 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 class in 2020 and 2024, took the Daytona 24 Hours in 2025 and is a McLaren racing partner.
Wakefield, England, is home to this sports car operation, which Zak Brown and Richard Dean set up in 2009. The team has become a force in endurance racing, winning at Le Mans in 2020 and 2024 and taking the Daytona 24 Hours in 2025.
Who founded United Autosports and where is it based?
Zak Brown, a businessman, and Richard Dean, a former driver, founded United Autosports in 2009. The team is based in Wakefield, England, and it has grown into a multi-series operation with programmes in the United States, the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East.
Its calendar has taken in endurance events from Dubai to Bathurst, alongside the British Touring Car Championship, the GT Cup and the European Supercar Challenge. That breadth gave the team experience across very different cars and rulebooks from its earliest seasons.
A Wakefield team founded by a businessman and a former driver became a Le Mans winner, a Daytona champion and a McLaren partner.
Building a GT and sportscar base, 2010 to 2013
The team's early years brought podiums in the FIA GT3 European Championship, at the Spa 24 Hours, at Zhuhai and in the Macau Grand Prix in 2010. Those results set the tone for a squad that was eager to race everywhere it could.
In 2011 the squad teamed up with Michael Shank Racing at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, placing fourth in the prototype class. Brundle, Blundell, Patterson and Brown shared the driving, and the team also competed in British GT and the Petit Le Mans that year.
In 2012 the squad made its Dubai 24 Hours debut in two Audi R8 LMS machines. It was also among the earliest buyers of the McLaren MP4-12C GT3, and its first win in that car came at Snetterton in British GT, with Matt Bell and Charles Bateman at the wheel.
The 2013 British GT season ended with Bell and Mark Patterson second, half a point behind the title. The same year Jim and Glynn Geddie won the European Supercar Challenge title in a McLaren, the team's first championship of any kind.
How did the team move into touring cars, GT and prototypes?
The team moved into the British Touring Car Championship in 2014 with Toyota Avensis cars and into prototype racing with LMP3 cars in 2016. Its GT Cup and Ginetta programmes brought further titles along the way, and the 2016 European Le Mans Series debut was an immediate success.
The 2014 season was a varied one. Alongside the Toyota touring cars, the team entered the Ginetta GT4 Supercup, where it won the team title, and in the GT Cup it took the overall and GTO crowns with Jim Geddie in his McLaren.
In 2015 the squad went back to the GT Cup in an Audi R8 LMS driven by Phil Burgan, and it prepared to enter prototypes with two LMP3 entries in the ELMS.
Silverstone hosted the ELMS debut in April 2016, where the team ran two Ligier JS P3 machines. Early results were striking, with three opening race wins and eight podiums across the year, and the team and driver championships were secured before the final round.
Martin Brundle took pole for the Road to Le Mans, and Guy Cosmo set a new LMP3 lap record around the Circuit de la Sarthe. The result showed that the team could compete for headline positions at Le Mans itself.
What did the 2017 prototype season bring?
In 2017 the team stepped up to LMP2 in the European Le Mans Series with a Ligier JS P217. Albuquerque, Owen and de Sadeleer collected two race victories and three podiums, and the trio finished as runners-up. The step up was a significant change in car and class.
The team's Le Mans debut that June ended in fourth in LMP2 and fifth overall. Its LMP3 programme also defended the European Le Mans Series title, thanks to John Falb and Sean Rayhall. Those seasons laid the foundation for the Le Mans and WEC success that followed.
How did the team win at Le Mans in 2020 and 2024?
The 2020 Le Mans win came in September in the LMP2 class with Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque, and it made United the first team to win the WEC LMP2 title, the ELMS crown and the Le Mans LMP2 class in the same year. The 2024 victory arrived in June, crewed by Oliver Jarvis, Nolan Siegel and Bijoy Garg.
The 2020 season was disrupted by COVID-19, which halted the WEC for months. The team had already won at COTA in February, and it resumed at Spa in August with a victory for Hanson, Albuquerque and Paul di Resta.
The team also took the ELMS LMP3 title for the third time in five years and added the European Le Mans Series crown to its tally. Off-track, it bought the assets of the defunct Strakka Racing in September 2020, including race cars, trucks and premises near the Silverstone circuit.
How did the team grow in 2021 and 2022?
The 2021 season brought 36 podium finishes and 12 victories, and the squad made its GT4 European Series bow, taking the Silver teams' championship. Extreme E also became a major programme, run with Andretti, and Catie Munnings and Timmy Hansen won the Arctic X-Prix that year.
In 2022 the team opened at the Daytona 24 Hours before taking two wins in the Asian Le Mans Series Abu Dhabi races, with Paul di Resta and the young Josh Pierson. The American teenager became the youngest driver to race and finish a WEC race that season.
The WEC two-car entry achieved first place in the opening Sebring race and ten top-six finishes across the season. The ELMS LMP2 squad finished third in the teams' table, having won one of its races.
What happened in 2023 and the American expansion?
The 2023 season was a strong one in LMP2. The team took four poles, one victory and four second-place podiums in the WEC, while in the European Le Mans Series the number 22 entry, crewed by Oliver Jarvis, Phil Hanson and Marino Sato, ended as vice-champions after three wins in six races.
Filipe Albuquerque won the 2023 Goodyear Wingfoot Award for his season. The team's final Le Mans Cup year brought an LMP3 pole for Josh Caygill and a Spa victory for John Schauerman and Wayne Boyd, and historic racing continued with a class win at the Estoril Classics in a 1981 Porsche 935.
In September 2023 the team announced an expansion of its US programme, with a base in Mooresville, North Carolina, ahead of its first full IMSA season. The move reflected a wider ambition to compete across the Atlantic.
What happened with McLaren in 2024 and 2025?
United became McLaren Automotive's official racing partner in October 2023, running two McLaren GT3 EVOs in the WEC LMGT3 class from 2024. Then, in June 2025, McLaren set up McLaren United AS with the squad to run its LMDh programme from 2027.
2024 was a strong year on several fronts. In the IMSA SportsCar Championship the team won at Road America for the first time, took two poles and claimed a podium at Sebring. Its Daytona entry, with Pato O'Ward and Felix Rosenqvist as guest drivers, took LMP2 pole, and its livery was named among the best of the year.
In the WEC the team delivered the first LMGT3 podium for McLaren at Sao Paulo and a front-row lockout for the manufacturer at Bahrain. Those results gave the McLaren programme a firm base in endurance racing.
The 2025 season was more complicated, and the changes left the team with a smaller role in the WEC's GT class but a larger one in the coming hypercar era. The team finished second in the opening WEC round and won the Lone Star Le Mans. At Le Mans both LMGT3 cars retired, though the LMP2 entries finished seventh and sixth in class, and the team then stepped down from the LMGT3 class as Garage 59 took over the McLaren role.
United Autosports season by season
| Season | Series | Highlight |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Team founded | Zak Brown and Richard Dean establish the operation |
| 2010 | FIA GT3 European | Podiums at Spa and in the Macau Grand Prix |
| 2012 | British GT | Snetterton win in the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 in British GT |
| 2016 | European Le Mans Series | Three opening wins and both team and driver titles |
| 2017 | European Le Mans Series | Two LMP2 wins and runners-up in the standings |
| 2020 | WEC, ELMS and Le Mans | LMP2 win at Le Mans and a three-title year |
| 2022 | Asian Le Mans Series | Two Abu Dhabi wins |
| 2024 | Le Mans | Second LMP2 win, with Oliver Jarvis |
| 2025 | Daytona and Lone Star Le Mans | Daytona 24 Hours win and a Lone Star Le Mans victory |
What is the team's historic collection?
Historic racing has been part of the operation since its early years. The cars are raced rather than simply displayed, so they give the operation a living link to the sport's past. The collection includes a 1991 Senna McLaren MP4/6, a 1980 Williams FW07 that Alan Jones drove to the championship, and a 1970 March 701 from Jackie Stewart's era.
Among its historic Porsches are a 1986 962 and a JLP-3 935. Its events range from Monterey's reunion to the Le Mans Classic and Silverstone's annual weekend, which keep the operation connected to motorsport's heritage.
What is United Autosports' legacy?
United Autosports has built a reputation as a team that wins across different series and classes, from GT and touring cars to LMP2 and LMP3. Its 2020 treble and its Le Mans wins in 2020 and 2024 stand as its signature achievements.
Its blend of modern racing and historic preparation has given the team a distinctive identity. Its partners, from Andretti to McLaren, have also broadened its reach beyond the British scene. The programmes in historic racing keep the link to earlier generations of cars, while the modern programmes show how far the operation has come since its 2009 start.
The next chapter is McLaren United AS, which aims at the LMDh class from 2027 and will test whether the team can build an entirely new car to a demanding specification.
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