McLaren Names 2020 Development Drivers

McLaren has named Katie Milner, Michael Benyahia, Harry Hayek and Alain Valente as its GT development drivers for the 2020 season.

After being picked from an 18-driver shortlist, the quartet will be placed in next year’s British GT Championship with Tolman Motorsport which runs two McLaren 570S GT4s.

They emerged as successful graduates from the development scheme which concluded with an assessment day at Snetterton involving a series of on and off-track tests.

20-year-old Milner won the British Junior Saloon Car Championship in 2016 and has most recently competed in national Ginetta GT5 competitions.

Benyahia, meanwhile, has raced predominantly outside of the UK in ADAC GT4 this year and was also a test driver for the Venturi Formula E team in 2017.

Hayek comes from a predominantly single-seater background which has included stints in Australian F4 and British F3, while Swiss racer Valente was in the same McLaren GT4 team as Benyahia.

“The Driver Development Program is an extremely important part of the motorsport landscape at McLaren Automotive, and it is becoming stronger with each season,” said McLaren Drive Time leader Danny Buxton.

“This year’s group of shortlisted drivers was the largest we have ever assessed and it was a truly global mix, which is great to see. They were also the strongest selection we’ve ever seen, and the decision for the final four was extremely difficult.

“For Katie, Michael, Harry and Alain the work really starts now, and we will work with them – and push them – to build and improve their whole skill-set.

“Throughout the year, the team will work on a number of areas including personal fitness, nutrition, engineering expertise, racecraft and PR to help them develop into a complete package as a racing driver.”