United Autosports has confirmed that Oliver Jarvis will stand in for Paul di Resta for the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Fuji in October.
Jarvis is currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with Mazda Team Joest, but will link up with United Autosports' #22 Oreca 07 crew of Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque for the six hour endurance race.
The British driver has previously raced under team boss Richard Dean when he drove in the Formula Ford Festival for Dean's Team JLR outfit back in 2003. He also has plenty of WEC experience, including the Le Mans 24 Hours where in 2017 he made history by being the first LMP2 car to lead the race outright and finishing second overall and winning the LMP2 class.
Di Resta is unable to compete due to a clash with the DTM finale at Hockenheim on the same weekend.
"I am delighted to be racing with United Autosports in the Fuji WEC race and whilst it will be the first time for me at United, I feel like I already know the team having raced for Richard Dean at JLR in the 2003 Formula Ford Festival," commented Jarvis. "It will be a pleasure to be reunited with Richard and of course Flower [Paul Haigh], after so many years.
"Having watched the team closely over the years and seeing the extremely professional job they have done and now with the move into the WEC with the Oreca chassis I have no doubt they will be one of the favourites for the championship. I am really looking forward to teaming up with Phil and Filipe who I know extremely well, having been team mates with him at Audi."
Dean, team co-owner and managing director, added: "I’ve known Oliver for a long time, having worked with him back in 2003 in the Formula Ford Festival. We have kept in touch and I’ve always wanted him back in one of our cars, especially at United.
"He’s had a great career over the last few years and has an impressive CV, so I’m hopeful of a good result at Fuji alongside Phil and Filipe."
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