Loake Promoted to McLaren GT Factory Status

Photo: JEP/SRO

Joseph Loake has become a McLaren Motorsport GT factory driver, joining the British manufacturer’s top lineup of pilots in GT3 machinery.

Announced on Tuesday, the 2023 BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award winner made his GT3 debut last year as part of Garage 59’s lineup in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup.

The 20-year-old Briton joins the existing roster of factory drivers that includes Marvin Kirchhoefer, Dean MacDonald, Benjamin Goethe, Arthur Rougier and Simon Gachet.

McLaren’s Junior Pro and Graduate categories, meanwhile, have been merged and will now include a crop of ten drivers under the newly-named McLaren GT3 Junior Driver moniker.

Ben Dorr, Josh Rattican, Tommy Pintos and Jayden Kelly all remain in the program and are joined by six new members in Louis Prette, Tom Fleming, James Kell, Mikey Porter, Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Zac Meakin.

“I am really pleased that we have a strong group of drivers making up the factory driver program,” said McLaren Automotive’s head of motorsport Giorgio Sanna.

“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 onboard.

“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 program dedicated to the best talent drivers competing in our one make series has the target to be a reference GT drivers development program at global level , 2026 is shaping up to be a very exciting season.”

McLaren Automotive sporting director Rob Bell added: “Once again, we have been able to move the McLaren Motorsport Factory Driver program up a gear.

“With an expanded lineup and a clear development focus the future is 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.”

Photo: McLaren

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John