IndyCar: O’Ward and Rosenqvist to race in Gulf 12 Hours

United Autosports announced that they will be making their return to the Gulf 12 Hours in January, with McLaren IndyCar drivers Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist joining team owners Zak Brown and Richard Dean behind the wheel of the #23 McLaren 570S.

Following on from a highly successful return to GT racing this year, where the team won the GT4 European Series Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships, Zak, Richard, Pato and Felix are setting their sights on the 2022 Gulf 12 Hours, which will take place at the Yas Marina Circuit, in Abu Dhabi on 6-8 January.

Felix has previous GT racing experience having driven for AKKA Racing in the Blancpain GT Series. He finished second in the 24 Hours of Spa that same year and competed in the Super GT Series in 2018.

For Pato, this will be his first taste of a GT car, however after two previous seasons with Arrow McLaren SP, which saw him finish third in this year’s NTT IndyCar Series, the team have no doubt he will quickly settle in and get up to speed in the McLaren 570S.

United Autosports last fielded an entry in the Gulf 12 Hours in 2019 with Shaun Lynn, Jim McGuire and Richard Meins where they finished second in their Ligier JS P320. The team have raced in the Gulf 12 Hours a total of five times, three times in LMP3 and twice in GT3 cars.

Zak Brown
“I’m excited to race with not only Richard, but Pato and Felix as well. They have both performed brilliantly for Arrow McLaren SP in the IndyCar series and are great to work with. I’m looking forward to passing along my GT racing tips!”

Richard Dean
“It will be a pleasure to welcome Pato and Felix to the team for the Gulf 12 Hours. I’m sure they will both get up to speed quickly in our McLaren 570S GT4 car and will be putting Zak and I in our place. The Gulf 12 Hours is such a great event, Abu Dhabi is one of my favorite places and it will also be a bonus to get some sun to start 2022 off.”

Pato O’Ward
“I have never driven a GT car before, and Abu Dhabi is a cool place so I’m looking forward to the experience. Hopefully, Felix and I can help the boss get some nice hardware to bring home.”

Felix Rosenqvist
“It’s always fun to do a race in the off-season, to get some laps done and get the rust away a little bit. It will be a lot of traffic and a lot of things to take care of in that race for sure, but it will be fun racing in a McLaren over there. Hopefully, we’re not slower than Zak because then we have a new problem.”