United Autosports, which is expected to receive a pair of LMGT3 entries with McLaren for the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season, has announced its first pair of drivers for the campaign ahead of the entry list reveal later today.
The first is Swiss racer Grégoire Saucy, who has a wealth of experience in single-seaters, including a Formula 3 European title in 2021 and multiple FIA Formula 3 podiums during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
This programme will see the 23-year-old make his sportscar racing debut with the team.
“I am so excited to join McLaren and United Autosports,” said Saucy, “making my debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship and taking on the challenge of the McLaren 720S GT3 EVO.”
“It will be my first experience at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it’s such a special race,” he added. “I’m also looking forward to discovering the other tracks which are new to me like Qatar, Sao Paolo, COTA, and Fuji. I love arriving at new tracks and working them out.”
The second driver confirmed is Marino Sato, who formed part of United’s 2023 ELMS LMP2 campaign. Initially, Sato was signed by United for an LMP2 campaign in IMSA, but Sato was upgraded to Gold and therefore unable to keep his place in the team. Richard Dean’s solution to keep him on board is to slot him into United’s new LMGT3 effort.
“Marino really deserves this chance in the WEC with McLaren,” said United Autosports CEO Richard Dean. “He has done an amazing job for United in LMP2 this year. Not only is Marino a great personality to have around the team but he has been fast and reliable on his way to winning three races out of six in his debut sportscar season.”
Sato added: “I’m really excited to share this news. Thank you to everyone around me, United Autosports and McLaren for this wonderful opportunity.
“It will be a challenging season for sure,” says Marino, “but I’m very much looking forward to a lot of big races in the calendar, especially the 6 Hours of Fuji which will be my first car racing in Japan!”
As well as his first Japanese motor racing experience, confirmation of the United Autosports McLaren WEC LMGT3 entry today would see the former Italian F4, FIA Formula 3 European, Euroformula Open and FIA Formula 2 Championship contender make his FIA WEC and Le Mans 24 Hours debut.
Images courtesy of United Autosports
