It was announced late last month that Keating will join United for a full season in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, sharing the squad’s ORECA 07 with a yet to be confirmed full-season co-driver, as the team switches its focus following the WEC’s decision to scrap the LMP2 class for 2024.
The American driver currently races in the WEC for Corvette Racing in the GTE Am class, but had previously suggested it was unlikely he would remain in the series in 2024 as the current generation of GTE machinery makes way for GT3 cars.
Now Keating has clarified that a desire to spend less time at the race track was behind his decision to only contest IMSA, describing his title win for Corvette - sealed at the Monza round in July - as an ideal way to leave the WEC.
“It’s less about GT3 and more about the time,” the Texan told Autosport. “Right now, I’m doing two full seasons and spending about a third of my year at a race track. I have other places I want and need to spend my time.
“I have really loved my time in WEC, but they are going to eight races next year so that would mean even more time away. It just seems like a good time to stop, and especially after winning back-to-back titles.
“That said, if they kept LMP2 in WEC, I would have been hard-pressed not to choose that over doing LMP2 in IMSA. But I would still have only done one.”
Source: Autosport