Two Frenchmen among McLaren factory drivers

Woking will have a French touch this year. At least on the GT department side. Indeed, McLaren presented its troops for the 2025 season this Monday with no fewer than 11 drivers who will represent it throughout the year, divided into three distinct categories: Factory Drivers, Junior Pro and Graduate.

And the good news comes from the factory drivers side since the English manufacturer has announced the arrival of two Tricolores in its ranks: Simon Gachet, who was already in the Audi Sport program in the past, and Arthur Rougier, whose first experience as an official is this. Marvin Kirchhöfer, Dean MacDonald and Benjamin Goethe complete this first branch.

On the Junior Pro side, McLaren has secured the services of Joseph Loake, who came straight from the Formula 3 where he had driven for Rodin Motorsport. Ben Dörr, who will drive in DTM with the family team, and Adam Smalley, who competed in the last season of British GT in a McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, are the other two elected. They will be supported by the factory drivers, including coaching.

Finally, Aston Millar, Tommy Pintos and Josh Rattican are part of McLaren's Graduate program.

« I am delighted to welcome Arthur, Simon, Adam, Joseph and Tommy to the McLaren family and to welcome Aston back as we grow our driver roster to 11., rejoices Ian James, Motorsport Director at McLaren Automotive. We have a formidable group of McLaren factory drivers leading the team and we approach the 2025 season with high hopes of strong results.

With Rob Bell now our Sporting Director, they have an excellent mentor who will help them with their individual programmes as well as their other activities, including coaching our Junior Pro and Graduate riders. These four very talented riders have won multiple championships in their junior careers and we hope they will progress to factory rider status in the future. »

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