McLaren officially announces its GT drivers for 2026

While it was already known that Marvin Kirchhöfer and Benjamin Goethe would be involved, since they are committed to both McLaren 720S GT3 Evo from the Garage 59 team WECMcLaren has officially announced the 14 drivers who will be part of its factory program this year. Among the six factory drivers, Dean MacDonald, Arthur Rougier, and Simon Gachet are returning, all of whom are coming off strong performances in the 2025 GT World Challenge.

The former pilot of Formula 3 Joseph Loake, who was part of McLaren's Junior program until last year, also becomes a professional factory driver, joining the five drivers previously mentioned. These six drivers will represent McLaren worldwide in the various Grand Touring championships where the British marque competes. No doubt some are also looking ahead to 2027, when the Woking-based brand will make its Hypercar debut. Only Mikkel Jensen has been announced so far among the drivers for McLaren's LMDh.

Ten drivers have been selected for the McLaren Junior Driver Development Program. Ben Dorr, Josh Rattican, and Tommy Pintos remain in the program, and they are joined by seven other drivers, including Monegasque driver Louis Prette. Jayden Kelly, last year's McLaren Trophy champion, also joins the program. Tom Fleming, a member of the Garage 59 WEC team, will also be part of the lineup.

The final four drivers selected by McLaren for 2026 are James Kell, Mikey Porter, Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer, and Zak Meakin. Their 2026 programs will be announced in the coming weeks.

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