Giedo van der Garde will join United Autosports for two WEC races next season aboard the UK-based team’s #23 ORECA 07 at the Portimão and Monza rounds, racing in place of Tom Blomqvist who will be fulfilling IMSA GTP commitments in the States at Long Beach and CTMP in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura.
van der Garde will join Josh Pierson and Olly Jarvis in the #23.
After taking the 2016 European Le Mans Series Championship in a Greaves Motorsport Zytek, Gedo has continued to put in head-turning performances in LMP2 including a class win at the 2019 6 Hours of Fuji WEC (the only WEC class win in LMP2 to feature a Bronze-ranked driver) and a triple podium in the 2022 IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship, at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, 70th Annual Mobile 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The 6 Hours of Portimão will take place on 16 April 2023, followed by the 6 Hours of Monza on 9 July 2023.
Giedo van der Garde: “I’m really looking forward to racing with United Autosports, I’ve known them for a long time, they’ve always been up front and we’ve had some great battles in WEC over the years. It’s also an honour to race with Josh Pierson, we will be teammates in the IMSA championship and we go again in WEC Monza and Portimão. Oliver Jarvis, I’ve known for a long time, we did karts when we were teenagers. This is the first time we’ll race together but he’s a quick guy, he knows what he’s doing. For me, it’s a good opportunity to be back in the WEC. Last time, we won the 2021 championship [Pro-Am Class] – now, I have two races with United so let’s fight for the wins.”
Richard Dean, United Autosports CEO: “Giedo has always been a tough competitor to go up against. We have raced against him in LMP2 for quite a few seasons now and he always gives maximum effort and extracts the maximum from his car. It will be a relief to have Giedo on our side next year, rather than the thorn in our side that he has been up to now. He adds quality to the already formidable line up we have for the 2023 WEC season.”
