Li Enjoying “Pretty Smooth” Season in Pro Points Lead

James Li feels he and Casey Dennis have a “good shot” at the 2025 McLaren Trophy America Pro class championship after a strong start to the season in the series’ first year of competition in North America.

With four races to go, Li and Dennis head into the race weekend at Road America leading the Pro class standings by ten points over Skip Barber Racing’s Tommy Pintos and Cooper Broll on the back of four Pro class victories and a pair of overall wins this season.

The team’s sixth and 14th-place overall finishes at the Circuit of The Americas served as the only major outlier for the RWE crew in their string of otherwise consistent race results.

“We have been having a pretty smooth season so far,” Li told Sportscar365. “We hope to continue that and to continue to develop our relationship with McLaren as a marque.

“Since Sonoma, we were like, ‘Overall, we want the wins,’ which feeds into winning the championship.

“In terms of the 74 car, we’re really amped for Road America because it’s the penultimate race [weekend] of the season and we do think we have a good shot at securing that championship and bringing that home.”

Approaching the season, the now points leader said he and teammate Dennis were unsure of how they would stack up to the competition in the single-make championship.

However, a class win and second-place overall result at the series’ inaugural race at Sonoma Raceway shifted their mindset towards a championship.

“To be quite honest, we didn’t know quite how we were going to stack up in regard to the rest of the field,” said Li.

“All we did know was that no matter which class we’re in, Pro, Pro-Am, or Am, we want to win overall. That’s how it is and how it’s always been. It’s that competitive aspect of my personality that drives that.

“I think that we have the pace, but as a driver, I’m really hard on myself at the end of the day. If someone were to ask me, I’d be like, ‘No, I think I’m slow.’ Because I genuinely do.

“Part of me thinks that there is always more on the table. But the ultimate goal of every race is to get overall wins.”

As Li and Dennis continue to chase the championship hardware, he and the team continue to evaluate what their 2026 race program will look like, though he mentioned a strong desire to continue competing in McLaren machinery.

“If they would have me, I would love to stay with this marque, McLaren,” said Li. “They build very nice cars, both street cars and race cars. They perform well, they’re very balanced, and they make a lot of power. What more could you ask for?

“SRO has always been great to run with and is very organized. This series, being in its inaugural year, has really impressed me. It’s just run so well scheduling-wise. Everything down to the hospitality truck is great.

“Next year is still up for discussion because funding is a factor. We’re hoping that existing sponsors stay on and that we can add some more to the family. The bottom line is, no matter where I go, I’d like to stay with this brand.”

Li and Dennis’ Friendship Contributes to Their On-Track Pace

Before joining the McLaren Trophy grid this season, both Li and Dennis competed in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama as well as in Pirelli GT4 America, where they co-piloted a SprintX class Ginetta G55 GT4 during the 2019 season.

According to Li, he and Dennis have been long-time friends after being connected by a mutual connection, and he felt that this friendship not only helps the dynamic in the team, but also pays dividends in terms of on-track performance, even with limited testing time this season.

“As the season got underway, we didn’t have much test time,” Li said. “I would love for us to have more time in the car, but I’m happy with it. Casey’s happy with it, and I think the largest contributing factor is that both of us have decent pace.

“Our deltas in terms of pace, as two separate drivers, are really close together.

“We always joke that we’re the same individual, just in different bodies and different ages. Our lap times are like three tenths [apart], maximum, plus or minus.

“I’m grateful to be a part of this program and grateful that Casey brought me on. What’s even better than all of this is that it’s not necessarily as much of a working relationship as most of the teams and driver pairings are. We were friends before the racing.

“The whole team actually follows a lot of the same guidelines too. We’ve all known each other for a long time.

“We’ve been racing for years and years together now, whether against each other or with each other, and put it into a well-structured series in SRO, in a very fast car. I think it’s been a huge contributing factor because the working relationship is so strong.”