Di Resta Replaces Albuquerque in United Lineup for Portimao

Paul di Resta will substitute for Filipe Albuquerque in United Autsports’ LMP2 crew for the 8 Hours of Portimao due to the Portuguese driver’s clashing IMSA commitments.

Albuquerque will miss the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship on June 13 and instead compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Detroit Belle Isle with the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura DPi team.

United announced shortly after its victory in the Total 6 Hours of Spa that di Resta will join full-season drivers Phil Hanson and Fabio Scherer in the No. 22 Oreca 07 Gibson.

Di Resta was a member of United’s 24 Hours of Le Mans class-winning lineup from last year along with Hanson and Albuquerque, who went on to also clinch the 2019-20 WEC LMP2 category title and the European Le Mans Series championship.

Di Resta was not classified as a WEC champion alongside his full-time co-drivers because he missed the Fuji round due to a clash with his 2019 R-Motorsport DTM role.

After a shuffle in the United full-season lineup for 2021, di Resta was recalled to the team for Le Mans in August onboard one of United’s two automatic invitation entries.

The ex-Formula 1 driver will drive for Peugeot in the Hypercar category next season.

“It’s nice to get back racing and I’m looking forward to getting back in the car – I haven’t driven the No. 22 since I raced in Bahrain with United at the end of last year,” said di Resta.

“It’s exciting to be called up to take Filipe’s place at Portimao, so I’m thankful to the team for that.

“It’ll be great to be back with Phil and to race with Fabio especially off the back of the win the team have just had in Spa, it’ll be good to continue the momentum.”

United has so far only confirmed Albuquerque’s replacement for the Portimao race.

The reigning Rolex 24 at Daytona winner is also affected by a clash between the WEC and IMSA in September, when the 6 Hours of Fuji and Long Beach Grand Prix overlap.

Earlier this week LMP2 squad Inter Europol Competition announced that Louis Deletraz will sub in for IMSA DPi driver Renger van der Zande at Portimao and Fuji.