WEC 2025 - Imola Round Two

This weekend the McLaren LMGT3 duo took on the 6 Hours of Imola - the second round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship - at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in front of 65,000-strong, roaring crowds. After a stellar start to the season in Qatar, the podium-placing team battled the intrinsic challenges of the kerb-lined Imola circuit, ultimately crossing in 14th place.

On Saturday afternoon, both James Cottingham and Darren Leung in #95 car kicked off Qualifying in ultra-competitive fashion. The British drivers posted P5 and P4 respectively with impressive pace, securing two spots for McLaren in Hyperpole. FIA Silver-graded drivers Sean Gelael (#95) and Sebastien Baud (#59) took over for the 10-minute Hyperpole shootout, putting the papaya LMGT3 duo P8 (#95) and P9 (#59) on the grid. Come race day, Cottingham and Leung took the start, with impressive performances from both. Cottingham worked hard to push the #59 into the top 10 whilst saving energy, running P11 after one hour and P9 after the second.

The first Virtual Safety Car of the race saw the McLaren duo dive into the pits, with Baud (#59) and Gelael (#95) taking over. In a race characterised by time penalties, however, the #59 and #95 both suffered. In the #59, Gregoire Saucy served a drive through penalty, for an incident prior to his stint, losing approximately 34 seconds with just 17 minutes of race time remaining. At the line, it was a P14 finish - but with points and a half secured for their podium finish at the opening round in Qatar, Cottingham, Baud and Saucy are currently third place in the championship standings.

Round three of the 2025 WEC is the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday 10th May. Last year, the McLaren crew came within touching distance of the podium. What can the LMGT3 duo achieve this time? Follow all the action on social @unitedautosports.

#59 MCLAREN GT3 EVO - QUALI P9 | RACE P14 | CHAMP P3

James Cottingham: “A disappointing day of course. We were looking to bag some safe points, but we didn’t manage to bag any at all. But on reflection, this was our weakest race last year and it was always going to be our weakest race this year. So having the success ballast from the last race at our weakest track was probably the best thing. And we will look forward to Spa where we had front row performance for qualifying and podium potential pace during the race last year, and I don’t see any reason why we can’t deliver that in a few weeks’ time.”

Sebastien Baud: “We wrapped up the 6 Hours of Imola in 14th place. It was a challenging weekend for us - we had to fight hard with the car and never really found the performance we were hoping for. Still, we’ll take the positives, learn from it, and come back stronger. Time to focus and get to work for the next round: the 6 Hours of Spa.”

Gregoire Saucy: “Not the race we wanted, but we knew it was going to be a difficult track for us. We need to focus on Spa now. Last year, we were really close to the win there so I am pretty sure we can work hard and come back very competitive for the next round.”

Richard Dean, United Autosports CEO: “This weekend was tougher than expected, but we came to Imola with realistic goals as this circuit doesn’t play to the strengths of the McLaren. James Cottingham and Darren Leung were particularly impressive this weekend – their qualifying performances were top tier. Thank you to the team as always, I’m looking forward to what we can achieve in Spa.”