United Retains Albuquerque for 2023 LMP2 Campaign

United Autosports has announced that Filipe Albuquerque will remain with the team for a fourth consecutive FIA World Endurance Championship campaign next year.

The Portuguese ace will continue with United in the LMP2 class next season, having been part of the Anglo-American squad’s WEC setup since its championship debut in 2019-20.

Albuquerque is also set for his seventh season with the team in total, based on prior spells in the European Le Mans Series. 

United stated in its announcement on Friday that it “fought off interest” from other teams to secure Albuquerque’s services for another year.

“Filipe continues to prove he is one of the very best sports car drivers in the world,” commented United Autosports co-owner Richard Dean.

“His record with United is impressive, as is his contribution to all aspects of our team.

“We continue to push for improvements, and I am sure this commitment to work together again in 2023 will bring more success for Filipe and United Autosports.”

Team co-owner Zak Brown added: “Filipe signing this early for 2023 shows how highly he rates United Autosports, both currently and for the future.

“He unquestionably had other options on the table and was being chased by other teams. But he sees how ambitious we are as a team and has committed to us.

“From our side, he’s a hugely valuable asset especially with a new era of sports car racing just around the corner which Richard is working hard towards fulfilling.”

Albuquerque is set to balance his WEC LMP2 drive for United with an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP role under Acura’s new LMDh program, similar to his current split-series commitments in LMP2 and DPi.

His first WEC season with United in 2019-20 yielded a championship success alongside Phil Hanson, while Paul di Resta joined the pair for most of the season and shared in a 24 Hours of Le Mans class win. Albuquerque and Hanson also won that year’s ELMS title.

Last season Albuquerque and Hanson were joined by Fabio Scherer in the No. 22 Oreca 07 Gibson but finished below crews from Team WRT and JOTA in the standings.

The current WEC term has been a challenging one so far for the No. 22 crew of Albuquerque, Hanson and Will Owen, who have encountered drama and incidents in each of the first four races including Le Mans.

“I am very happy to re-sign with United for another WEC campaign and the aim is unsurprisingly to repeat our championship victory of 2019-2020,” said Albuquerque.

“I never imagined that I’d be driving for the same team for so long but it’s an absolute pleasure working with Richard, Zak, the engineers and the entire team. Bring on ’23 – I can’t wait!”

United Autosports has not named Albuquerque’s co-drivers for next year’s WEC, although it has already announced the retention of Josh Pierson for another year.

The team is expected to run a pair of Orecas in both the WEC and ELMS in 2023 and has already pledged a two-car commitment to the Asian Le Mans Series in February.