McLaren Motorsport Expands 2026 Factory Driver Line-up
After a successful 2025 season, McLaren Motorsport enters 2026 with even bigger ambitions. The team claimed its first FIA World Endurance Championship race win, returned to the top step of the GT World Challenge Europe podium, and secured GT4 titles in Britain and Australia. McLaren Motorsport now confirms an expanded roster of 16 Factory Drivers. This international line-up reflects the brand’s racing DNA across leading global GT series.
The Factory Drivers sit at the heart of McLaren Motorsport’s GT racing programme. They support McLaren’s customer racing operations worldwide and contribute to the ongoing development of the GT3, GT4 and Trophy car range.
German racer Marvin Kirchhöfer leads the Factory Driver line-up again. Briton Dean MacDonald returns alongside Benjamin Goethe, Arthur Rougier and Simon Gachet. They all delivered strong results last year in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance and Sprint Cup campaigns.
Joseph Loake steps up from the previous Junior Pro category and joins the Factory Drivers after an impressive GT debut last year. The 2023 Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award winner previously raced single-seaters in the FIA Formula 3 Championship.
McLaren Motorsport has streamlined the driver structure for 2026. The team has merged the previous Junior Pro and Graduate categories into the McLaren GT3 Junior Driver category. Former McLaren Factory Driver Rob Bell now guides the programme in his role as McLaren Motorsport Sporting Director. Ten drivers will join as GT3 Junior Drivers. DTM driver Ben Dörr returns, and Josh Rattican continues into his fourth year in the programme. The 2023 McLaren Trophy Europe champion Tommy Pintos stays on and welcomes 2025 champion Jayden Kelly, who moved into GT3 racing late last year.
The refreshed squad also includes six new members. Garage 59 driver Louis Prette joins the programme after becoming the overall GT World Challenge Endurance Cup race winner in Barcelona. He teams up with Garage 59 stablemate Tom Fleming, who has recently joined the FIA World Endurance Championship grid. In 2025, the Essex-born Fleming combined his GT World Challenge campaign with a European Le Mans Series programme.
McLaren also adds James Kell, Mikey Porter, Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Zac Meakin to its factory GT roster for 2026. Kell previously raced the 570 GT4 and GT3 EVO McLarens in British GT and then completed a combined GT Open and GT World Challenge programme last season. Porter also competed across both championships with Optimum Motorsport, a long-standing McLaren Customer Racing team. Jean-Baptiste joins after winning the 2022 GT World Challenge Europe Silver Cup and then spending two seasons racing prototypes in the European Le Mans Series. Zac Meakin arrives as the 2024 British GT GT4 champion and a 2025 McLaren Trophy Europe race winner.
McLaren Motorsport now sets out a clear pathway from the McLaren Trophy one-make championships to a Factory Driver seat. Tommy Pintos and Jayden Kelly both reinforce that progression. McLaren launched the McLaren Trophy Academy in 2025 and will strengthen it this year to build experience for professional drivers in the McLaren Trophy series, as well as drivers of an eligible age. McLaren will announce the full McLaren Trophy Academy driver line-up in June.
“I am really pleased that we have a strong group of drivers making up the Factory Driver programme. Marvin, Dean, Benji, Simon, Arthur, and Joseph are all top GT drivers, and it is a credit to our factory roster that we have them on board. The eight GT3 Junior Driver members are all promising talents coming from McLaren Trophies and GT4, and we will be keeping a close eye on their progress. The renewed McLaren Trophy Academy programme, dedicated to the best talent drivers competing in our one-make series, aims to be a global reference in GT driver development. 2026 is shaping up to be a very exciting season.” Giorgio Sanna, Head of Motorsport, McLaren Automotive.
“Once again, we have been able to move the McLaren Motorsport Factory Driver programme up a gear. With an expanded line-up and a clear development focus, the future looks very bright. With Marvin, Benji and Tom racing in WEC this year, we can now support a straight-line progression from McLaren Trophy to the peak of GT racing in the World Endurance Championship.” Rob Bell, Sporting Director, McLaren Automotive.
