A New Challenge for Wayne Boyd

The 34-year-old Northern Irish driver won the ELMS title in 2020 and added the Asian Le Mans Series LMP3 crown a year later before switching the LMP2. This season he joins fellow British driver Michael Birch and Australian Garnett Patterson in the no23 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo, the first time a McLaren has been entered in the European Le Mans Series.

So, has Wayne Boyd raced a GT3 before? “My first GT race was in December in the Gulf 12 Hour race,’ he admitted.“When I came into endurance racing, it was with United Autosports in LMP3.I’d driven another GT car last year on a one-day test; that was it. I was ready for a change.

“Obviously, I’ve done LMP3 for years, done bits and pieces of LMP2; getting to do Le Mans was obviously like a dream come true for me.I've done P3 in IMSA, raced in Asia, Europe, everywhere. It's something I could continue to do and still enjoy it, but I just wanted to try something else.

“Then the GT opportunity came up. So, we did the Gulf 12 Hour and I really enjoyed it. Then the United Autosports opportunity came up.United is an extended family for me, so getting the opportunity to come back and to do ELMS in a McLaren in GT, it didn't really get much better for me, to be honest.”

The McLaren is a new car to the ELMS, how are the preparations for the season?“It's going really well so far,” Boyd said.“Looking at the experience that team gained from WEC last year, it's allowed us to hit the ground running massively with the amount of data and experience that they've got from it. Then when you look at Qatar, the first round of the WEC, the team were the strongest cars; it should’ve been a 1-2 really, if everything went to plan, so it helps us massively.

“It also helps me as I don't have a huge amount of GT experience, as I said.So the team were able to give us like a really good car, straight away, which helps me learn a lot quicker.”

Have you had to change your driving style?What are the biggest differences between racing an LMP3 and a LMGT3?“The biggestdifference is probably the braking and then not quite as much down force. My driving style kind of suits jumping from the P3 to the GT. It's just more the braking is a little bit different, which has made my life quite easy to transition. Our pace has been pretty strong straight away. Once you figure out the braking, with the ABS and traction control settings, once you get your head around that, it's been pretty smooth sailing so far.”

Is traffic going to be a problem for your because in a prototype you’ve been used to overtaking the GTs and now you will be the one who is being passed? “I now see both sides,” Boyd admitted. “I think it's actually helped in many ways to have done LMP3 before, or vice versa, because you understand where the strengths and weaknesses are with them, to understand where you can let them through.

"But I think the biggest issue that, because we always talked about it in drivers briefing, whenever you pass a GT car not pulling in right in front of the car to make sure that there's a bit of space, and I didn't realise just how important it is, because in the GT car you can brake later and more efficiently than the P3 for example. We're braking later than the P3 cars. So the biggest thing if a P3 does move ahead of you after they've passed you, it's giving yourself a little bit of margin to play with.”

One of things that will be familiar for you are the circuits that the ELMS will race on in 2025.Is this going to help you in this transition? “Definitely, we've got a lot of experience on the circuits we will visit so we're not trying to learn the circuit and the car. The only thing is the team hasn't been to Barcelona before with the McLaren, but with the experience that they've brought from every other track in WEC, we've been pretty close; to be honest and we haven't had to change anything too dramatic just yet.

“Another big thing for me has been kerbs, because I've driven all the tracks so many years in LMP3, I know what kerbs I can use and the ones I can't use, but in the GT, I need to completely change that. You use every one of them and as much as you can possibly do.

With more manufacturers joining the ELMS is this part of the appeal racing in LMGT3? “It definitely makes it more interesting, you know, compared to what I was doing with the P3, there wasn't as much diversity, whereas now you've got all the different manufacturers to play with.The BOP is controlled a lot better and it's interesting just to see where the lap time is gained by new different car manufacturers compared to how we gain it. It's an exciting class to be in for now.”