Wakefield's United Autosports are in pole position for Le Mans 24-hour success

For one thing, victory in the 2020 race with his Wakefield-based United Autosports team was as exhilarating as he expected, but also bittersweet because it was missing one thing – fans, writes Nick Westby.

For another reason, having achieved the distinction of winning the race as a team owner 14 years after doing so as a driver, it left this insatiable competitor even more determined to stride onto the top step of the podium in the future, starting this weekend in the centenary edition of the sport’s most storied race.

“You never get bored of winning,” says the 57-year-old who co-founded United Autosports with future McLaren F1 ceo Zak Brown in 2009.

“And already it feels too long since we were on the top step at Le Mans.

“When we won it was during Covid, we were operating under a special licence to travel, it was classed as elite sport, there were no fans there, so for the famous podium shot we were all wearing masks.

“So I’d like to go back and win it in front of what would be a record crowd, it’s the 100th anniversary this year which makes it more special, it’s been sold out since January, the first time in its history it’s been sold out prior to the event.

“It feels like now’s the time.”

Dean certainly has the cars to do so.

Car No 22 driven by Phil Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque and Frederik Lubin leads the LMP2 class of the World Endurance Championship after three rounds, with United’s No 23 car piloted by Josh Pierson, Tom Blomqvist and Olly Jarvis in third place heading into the marquee fourth round of seven at Le Mans, the jewel in the crown which brings double points.

It means the Yorkshire marque go into the race as the team to beat, just as they did three years ago.

And the message from the United pitwall is: bring it on!

“I don’t feel under pressure as the team to beat,” Dean explained before heading out to the French countryside.

“The preparation in the workshop in Wakefield has been intense, we’ve got so many people in there trying to work through all the potential eventualities, things we’ve learnt in the past, things that have gone wrong, whether it’s in or out of our control, we’re trying to think of everything, so that puts pressure on.

“It’s going to be fairly stressful because we’re desperate to win Le Mans, we’re desperate to win the World Championship.”

Experience has taught Dean to take nothing for granted, and in the build-up to a race that goes from daylight to darkness and back again, to leave as few stones unturned as possible.

All those preparations last year went up in smoke when a three-car pile-up took their leading car out of contention on the first lap.

At Sebring in an earlier round of this year’s World Endurance Championship, the in-car camera broke loose and shut down the No 23 car when it was leading the 10-hour race.

“Bad luck at the time makes you feel like ‘what can you do’? It’s easy to have that mindset,” says Dean.

“But when you look back at it, there’s always something where if you had the chance to re-run that race we would have done something differently. Who installed the camera? Was the equipment verified? There’s always a process that you can learn from.

“So you can say it’s bad luck, but then when you ask that question, there is probably something we could have done to have prevented it.

“This is our seventh Le Mans, it sounds a lot but new things keep surfacing and you have to take those experiences. If you’re well-structured and well-organised and have a lot of experience within the team, all these items, all these experiences can build towards your preparation. If you prepare properly you are limiting the potential for failure.”

United head into Le Mans with a change at the technical director position, Jakob Andreasen coming in from Toyota last autumn to replace Dave Greenwood, who went back to work in Formula One.

“I’d like to think we’re stronger now,” says Dean, whose team signed an aviation partnership with NetJets this week, with their branding added to the uniforms for the weekend’s race. “Jakob had been in F1 before Toyota, but he’s bringing us a lot of experience of Le Mans from Toyota who have won the elite hypercar class for five consecutive years.

“Not just that department, we’ve strengthened in other departments, the competition has got tougher so we’ve had to strengthen. We’ve been the team to beat this year so that’s the measure of how far we’ve come.”

Whether the team from Yorkshire can taste the winner’s champagne in front of the packed grandstands at the centenary edition of the Le Mans 24-hour is the only stone left unturned.