DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The story of the last decade of Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class racing cannot be told without United Autosports USA.
A global powerhouse, the Zak Brown and Richard Dean-led team has been a marquee contender in several international sports car championships.
But in year three of its full-time presence within the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, its winning nature is starting to bloom more frequently in IMSA’s stacked LMP2 class. Upwards of a dozen contenders race the same ORECA LMP2 07 chassis, and the blend of driving talent includes a run of past Formula 1 drivers, aspiring young pros and solid Bronze-rated drivers who enjoy strong business work ethic outside of racing.
United’s trio for 2026 features a mix of all of the above as Daniel Goldburg, Paul Di Resta and Rasmus Lindh return in its No. 22 ORECA in pursuit of the title that slipped from its grasp in 2025.
Meanwhile the new-look No. 2 ORECA is United’s first IMSA winner of 2026, as its new trio of Phil Fayer, Mikkel Jensen and Hunter McElrea won Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Both the United team and most of its drivers have a recent knack for IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup race wins, in addition to United’s pair of LMP2 class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2020 and 2024.
United has now won three of the past six IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races in LMP2 since the start of 2025, with the No. 22 car winning at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen last year.
Then the last two endurance races of both 2024 and 2025, the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks in Indianapolis and Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Jensen and McElrea shared the winning entry fielded by TDS Racing co-driving with Steven Thomas.
The United crew’s Sebring 2026 triumph came after a rally back from two early race penalties assessed for more than emergency service in a closed pit and a pit lane speed violation. The good news, of course, is when early penalties hit in an endurance race, there’s much more time to make it up.
The longest leading LMP2 entry at Sebring – defending series champions AO Racing – led 191 of the first 290 laps with its No. 99 ORECA. But the team got the tough end of the stick on its own planned pit sequence when “Spike” needed to pit for emergency service in the final hours when a full-course caution occurred.
United’s No. 2 car saw Fayer run most of the first few hours to fulfill his minimum drive time, with Jensen and McElrea then alternating throughout the remainder of the race to help bring the car back through the field. All told, the No. 2 car led 46 laps and the No. 22 car led 14 laps en route to the team’s first 1-2 finish in IMSA competition.
Jensen knows how to win at Sebring, having done so previously in LMP2 with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports back-to-back in 2021 and 2022. His win Saturday was his seventh consecutive Sebring podium in LMP2 as well. But he said this latest triumph was one of the hardest to achieve.
“You come back every year and you want to repeat this thing,” Jensen said. “It’s an amazing race. There’s so much going on out there. It’s unbelievable how the GTs are trying to use us to play their game against the competitors. It’s actually the hardest thing here I would say.
“Then the track just gets different every year, more bumps arriving. It gets fixed in places, some not. You always experience new bumps when you go off the line passing a GT. It’s always a challenge at night at the end when you have to find your way through traffic and find your competitors at the same time.
“Winning Sebring is amazing, to be with Hunter, we did it in the past years together, but now we’re here with Phil. It’s just a good win on top of a tough Daytona.”
Fayer, who raced in the Atlantic Championship in the early 2000s before taking an extended break from racing, has returned to action the last two years. He raced most of the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season in a Grand Sport (GS) CSM Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS before making his WeatherTech Championship debut at his home venue of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in a United LMP2 car last year.
“It’s overwhelming in terms of all the things you have to pick up,” he explained. “But I loved every minute of it. I’m blessed to be here. The race started a little bit difficult, but I enjoyed every minute behind the wheel. Sebring is such a special track.”
McElrea and Jensen took alternate journeys to United for 2026 – Jensen has also been announced as the first McLaren prototype driver for United’s upcoming program in the FIA World Endurance Championship – but were able to stay together somewhat fortuitously.
“I’d talked to him and we both came over,” Jensen said. “We came on separate deals. We’d started hearing that he didn’t know about me, McLaren and United, which is kind of all together. I didn’t hear much about him other than the team was asking me for my Silver (driver) preference. I obviously asked for Hunter because we have a good relationship. He’s performed well the past two years.”
McElrea added, “It’s obviously a lot of different things. Different philosophies, different surroundings. But obviously Mikkel and I have been together for the last two seasons prior to this.
“Endurance has been a new journey for me, something that obviously I wasn’t used to. I probably understand I’m in a very lucky position to have won almost half the races I’ve done in IMSA. It’s probably not normal (smiling). Just lucky to be beside such a strong driver to learn from.
“On top of that, to be next to Phil, too, without him none of us would be sitting here. First Sebring, first win. It’s not possible without him making zero mistakes, executing his stints, giving us a good car. And it’s a team effort. Obviously hats off to United. The car came alive right when we needed it to. Very happy to be sitting here and finally get this win.”
A quirk in the IMSA schedule is after Sebring, the next LMP2 race isn’t until Watkins Glen in June – a race United is defending winners of with the No. 22 car. Jensen’s next race isn’t until the 24 Hours of Le Mans two weeks before that, part of a United LMP2 entry there with two of his No. 22 IMSA teammates in Lindh and Gregoire Saucy. That struck the Dane as a funny realization heading into Sebring.
“It’s funny you mention that,” Jensen laughed. “This week I was told, ‘Do you know your next race is Le Mans?’ And I was like, ‘What, my next race is Le Mans?’
“It is kind of a weird part of the year since we used to have (WeatherTech Raceway) Laguna Seca for LMP2 in May, but now that’s at Indianapolis. We’ll still be busy with testing with the McLaren soon and an LMP2 test in Watkins Glen. So, it’s not like we’re not in a race car.”
