McLaren Motorsport Unveils Expanded 2025 GT Racing Line-up with Eleven Elite Drivers
McLaren Motorsport has announced an expanded factory driver line-up for its 2025 GT racing campaign, featuring eleven drivers across three tiers. This comprehensive structure includes emerging talents and proven professionals, all set to represent McLaren at the highest levels of GT competition.
Five McLaren Factory Drivers will spearhead the 2025 season. With Rob Bell becoming Sporting Director, Germany’s Marvin Kirchhöfer, 30, becomes the most experienced Factory Driver. He reunites with Britain’s Dean MacDonald, 24, and welcomes German-Dane Benjamin Goethe, 21, who steps up from Junior Pro status. Two French racers, Arthur Rougier and Simon Gachet, complete the Factory Driver line-up. Rougier, 24, earned the French F4 title in 2017 before transitioning to GT racing in 2019, while Gachet, 31, triumphed in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup in 2020 and helped Team France secure victory in the FIA Motorsport Games GT Cup two years later.
Three highly talented young drivers join the McLaren Junior Pro Driver category, benefitting from coaching by the Factory Drivers. Germany’s Ben Dörr, 19, is a multiple German karting champion who has already raced a Dörr Motorsport McLaren GT3 EVO in the DTM. Britain’s Adam Smalley, 23, a multiple one-make sportscar champion, claimed third overall in the 2024 British GT Championship with Garage 59 in his debut GT3 EVO season. Meanwhile, 20-year-old British racer Joseph Loake, the 2023 Autosport BRDC Award winner, switches full-time to GT racing after competing in FIA Formula 3 last year.
Josh Rattican, Aston Millar and Tommy Pintos form the McLaren Graduate Driver category. Rattican, 20, from Britain, is the reigning European GT4 Series Silver champion, having raced an Artura GT4 with Elite Motorsport. Fellow Briton Aston Millar, 20, returns following impressive performances in the 2023 British GT Championship with an Artura GT4. Spain’s 19 Pintos was the inaugural McLaren Trophy champion in 2023 alongside Gonzalo De Andres. After catching Rob Bell’s attention at a driver assessment, he earned his place in the driver programme.
McLaren also plans to launch the McLaren Trophy Academy, which will provide coaching and support to silver-ranked drivers in the McLaren Trophy series worldwide at the start of their professional careers. Promising drivers will have the chance to replicate Pintos’ journey and progress through McLaren’s driver development pathway, aiming to attain Factory Driver status.
“I’m delighted to welcome Arthur, Simon, Adam, Joseph and Tommy to the McLaren family, and it’s great to have Aston back as we increase our line-up to eleven drivers. We have a formidable roster of McLaren Factory Drivers leading the way into the 2025 season, and with Rob Bell now in place as our Sporting Director, they have a first-class mentor. These four exceptionally gifted racers have each secured multiple junior championships, and we look forward to seeing them progress to Factory Driver status in the future” said Ian James, Director of Motorsport, McLaren Automotive.
“This group represents a formidable line-up of current and future McLaren Motorsport talent. Dean has been part of the family for a while, steadily moving through the ranks to earn his stripes as a Factory Driver. Meanwhile, Tommy Pintos impressed us in McLaren Trophy, so welcoming him onto the factory programme exemplifies our aim to discover future talent through one-make series. It’s a hugely exciting group, and I can’t wait to see what they achieve this season” exclaimed Rob Bell, Sporting Director, McLaren Automotive.
