7.4 Seconds away from a podium at Circuit of the Americas in Texas

Last weekend, James Cottingham, Nicolas Costa and Gregoire Saucy secured P4 in the #59 McLaren LMGT3 EVO at round six of the FIA World Endurance Championship - battling 34-degree heat in front of 65 thousand fans at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

The result put them, once again, within touching distance of the podium, having secured the same result in Spa and Sao Paulo earlier in the season.

The #59 McLaren LMGT3 EVO had a steady climb from their starting position of P7, keeping it clean throughout the six-hour race with solid drives stint after stint. With 40 minutes on the clock, the crew were running P5 – upgrading to P4 when a penalty dropped one of the leading cars down the order.

After the final FCY, Gregoire Saucy went on the hunt, closing the 16-second gap to just 7 seconds in the last 15 minutes. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to challenge for P3, but the team did take another haul of championship points.

After the race, James said:

"I think we made great progress over the week, as we have done all year. Qualifying probably showed where we were on the day, but we took another step forward on race day. I felt I had a great first stint, but by the end, I was suffering from the heat and was very glad to have a break. And it meant that when I went out for my second stint, I was absolutely mint and on it! I really enjoyed the second stint and felt like I gave it my best. I think all three of us did a great job all race … no penalties, nothing like that. It looked like a podium was on the cards but in the end, the tyre strategy - our last stop for Gregoire when we took a new set – dropped us behind the two in front. Then we inherited fourth. For us, it’s been three rounds on the trot – except Le Mans – where we’ve finished P4, which is just so close to the podium. And if we hadn’t had some challenges at the start of the year, we would be doing a lot better in the championship. But it’s another really strong result, a great effort by the whole team and all the drivers. Luckily, we’re racing again in two weeks’ time, so we can put it right there in Japan!"

The next race is round seven of the FIA World Endurance Championship – the 6 Hours of Fuji – on Sunday, 15th September 2024. Stay updated with the team on social media by following @dkengineering and @unitedautosports.