United Autosports’ 22,000-mile round trip to the spectacular Mount Panorama circuit this weekend for the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour endurance event ended prematurely today. But it gave the team the most incredible experience at arguably one of the world’s greatest and most demanding tracks, and with the determination to return again to take a top finish.
Even the most experienced of the Australian V8 Supercar drivers warned the Leeds-based team that it can take up to three years to learn the magnificent but unforgiving track, which is surrounded by concrete barriers!
Mark Patterson (USA), Alain Li (France) and Frank Yu (Hong Kong), however, had little more than a day to learn the formidable challenges of this beautiful sweeping up and downhill circuit, but during that time acquitted themselves exceptionally well to start the race against the factory Ferraris and Audi R8 LMS cars in seventh place.
There were wet and difficult conditions throughout the race; an event that not only took out the United Autosports Audi R8 LMS during its third stint with Frank Yu (Hong Kong) at the wheel, but also eliminated many of the other front-running cars. Amongst them were the leading Ferrari and factory-run Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS cars, piloted by vastly experienced drivers.
Mark Patterson’s (USA) superb opening stint in the early morning darkness put the Audi R8 LMS straight into contention. It had been a strong showing from Patterson and Frenchman Alain Li (Hong Kong) with faultless drives and pit stops until rain ended the team’s fine run in seventh place. Both Patterson initially and then Li completed their stints in dry conditions, the former on soft compound slick tires, while Li was sent out on a hard [compound] set.
When Li handed the Audi over to Yu during a safety car period, Frank continued on the same tires used by Li, at which point the rain fell suddenly, making the circuit very slippery. On his fourth lap going through Turn 2, the Audi’s slick tires touched the painted kerbs resulting in the car swapping ends and Yu was a helpless passenger as the car hit the wall. On close inspection the United Autosports engineers discovered front chassis damage which rendered the Audi unsafe to continue and it was race over.
Until then, everything was running according to plan with the team’s strategy and race pace set to gain position through greater fuel consumption and subsequently less pit stops. Having travelled to one of the most challenging tracks in the world and taken on the best cars and drivers thousands of miles away from the UK, the Anglo-American team thoroughly enjoyed the Bathurst experience and feels it has unfinished business at the spectacular Mount Panorama circuit and has vowed to return.
Meanwhile as the team returns to the UK following its tour of many thousands of miles in the Middle East and Australia, attention now turns to the new association with the McLaren MP4-12C GT cars with which United Autosports will contest the Blancpain Endurance Series with its line-up of star drivers.
Driver Quotes:
Alain Li (F), Age: 51. Born: Caen, France. Lives: Hong Kong:
“Mark brought the car in for me in seventh place and we had a very good pit stop. We put a set of hard [compound] tires on because we were going to double-stint them and as it was the first time I’d driven on the hard tire, it took a little while to get used to them but then I got down to my qualifying time. The safety car came out and worked to our advantage because it was just before I was going to pit anyway and then I got a wave by which allowed us to catch up one lap.
“Unfortunately [the accident] is one of those things – we’ve all gone off, but it’s unfortunate for the team. United always puts out an excellent team and you can feel the team spirit. We had a good strategy with the tires and fuel, and it was looking good, but you have to look at the positives. It was the first time we were all here – I think we all love the circuit, the atmosphere – the place is fantastic. We’d all like to come back next year and finish the job!”
Mark Patterson (SA), Age 60. Born: Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Lives: Bronxville, NY, USA:
“I’ve never before started an endurance race at what felt like midnight at 6am; taking a lap around Mount Panorama in the pitch dark is quite exciting on cold tires! I got passed by a Mercedes on lap one or two, but got him back a few laps later and gave the car to Alain in good shape. But unfortunately rain came down just as Frank got in the car on hard tires and he was one of three cars in a row that hit the wall in the rain. At these temperatures and at these speeds with the walls surrounding this entire track, if you go off you take your car out of the race unfortunately.
“But I had a ball! The stint I had was fantastic. I managed to learn a little bit, following some of the fast boys and had a wonderful time. I certainly want to be back here next year.”
Frank Yu (Hong Kong), Age: 48. Born: Hong Kong. Lives: Hong Kong:
“It was under safety car conditions when Alain pitted and I stayed on his set of slicks and the minute I got in the car it started raining. It was pouring down in the back part [of the track]. I was trying to keep up the pace and in turn two on my fourth lap, the back end just went out on me and hit the concrete barrier; there was nothing I could do. I had a few big moments before my crash and it’s a very unforgiving track.
“The team has done such a good job, we were right on the spot and our fuel consumption was very good. If everything had gone well, we could have gained maybe six laps at the end and maybe fourth or fifth, but I have still enjoyed my time here.”
Richard Dean (GB), Managing Director & Co-Owner of United Autosports:
“It’s dangerous when people keep saying to you, “is everything going well” and you reply, “yes, there’s no problems”. All week we’ve had no problems; not a thing since we first fired the engine up earlier this week.
“The walls up the mountain there are pretty unforgiving, as is any concrete wall, and when we had the little downpour of rain everybody stayed out as it didn’t look like it was going to stay wet for long. Everyone stayed out on slicks – including Frank, but he lost temperature in his tires, spun, hit the wall front and back. We can repair the rear but unfortunately there’s chassis damage [to the front] and it’s structurally enough in the crush zones to make the decision that the car’s out of the race which is pretty hard to take.
“Everything was going to plan – we were running two laps longer on fuel than everyone else so we were going to catch up on a pit stop less than everybody by the end of the race but you’ve got to get there. We have got a lot to be optimistic about and to look forward to this year with our McLaren MP4-12C GTs in the Blancpain Championship. We have the driver line-up we wanted which is pretty exciting.”