Daytona 24 hours: Senna joins Alonso and di Resta at United

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Former Formula 1 driver Bruno Senna is the latest driver to be added to United Autosport's line-up for January's Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The 34-year-old Brazilian will be at the wheel of one of the team's Ligier-Gibson JS P217 LMP2 cars. His team mates will be Williams reserve driver Paul di Resta, and regulars Will Owen and Hugo de Sadeleer.

"I’m very excited to join United Autosports on this challenge for Daytona,' said Senna. "It’s an incredibly accomplished team.

"With the experience from 2017, great technical talent, as well as the incredibly strong driver line-up, we should be up for a good fight right from the start."

Senna made his way up through Formula 3 and GP2 and make his F1 début with Hispania Racing Team in 2010. He went on to drive for half a season with Lotus, and a full year with Williams in 2012.

Paul di Resta preps for Daytona

Since departing F1 he's competed in the Blancpain Endurance Series with Von Ryan Racing, in Formula E with Mahindra, and in WEC with Aston Martin. He also raced a previous-spec Ligier with RGR Sport in 2016. This year he drove an Oreca 07-Gibson at Le Mans for Rebellion.

"Bruno will be great added value to the team," commented team boss Richard Dean. "He has both prototype and Daytona experience."

Fernando Alonso is already confirmed as one of three drivers of United sister's car. It will be his début in the World Endurance Championship.

He will joined by McLaren's new test and development driver Lando Norris, and by sportscar veteran Phil Hanson.

"We’ve taken our time to put the right line-ups together for both cars," Dean said. "I’ve think we have a great balance of speed, skill and experience to head to Daytona ready for the challenge.”

Williams F1 driver Lance Stroll will also be taking part in the endurance race. He's part of the Jackie Chan DC Racing squad where his team mates will be Felix Rosenqvist, Robin Frijns and Daniel Juncadella..

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.