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(⏱ 4 minutes, 9 pictures)
Surrey, UK, March 14th – McLaren Motorsport have confirmed updated driver lineup with four new drivers join for the 2023 season, which incorporates new ones Junior Pro driver And Academy program designed to mature young, promising GT drivers.
Heading into the 2023 line-up will be McLaren’s longtime driver Rob Bel (below) and he has now moved up to a more senior position within the Factory Drivers team. His participation with McLaren includes winning the 2016 Blancpain GT Endurance Series championship. Rob’s extensive role within McLaren has also included racing 720S GT3 in its inaugural British GT Championship campaign as well as the test and development program for the new GT4 Arthur And Arthur Trophy car racing.
Rob Bel
Also retained are German possessions Marvin Kirchhofer (under). The 28-year-old raced with customer team Garage 59 and Jota in his maiden season with McLaren last year, culminating in a second place finish in the Silverstone 500 race of the British GT Championship.
Marvin Kirchhofer
Joining this pair are the British Gambling Tom (under). The 21-year-old has built a competitive career in sports car and GT racing with United Autosports, and in 2020 was crowned LMP3 champion in the European Le Mans Series. Previously he won the Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award 2018 and has competed in the Asian Le Mans Series, Le Mans Cup, British GT, GT World Challenge, IMSA Sportscar Championship LMP3 and the GTD class.
Gambling Tom
In addition to the three McLaren Factory Drivers, a new McLaren Pro Junior Driver category has been established for 2023. Two promising young drivers have joined the program with a view to becoming established GT competitors under the tutelage of Factory Drivers.
Part of this new initiative will be Benjamin Goethe (under). The 19-year-old racer has dual German and Danish nationality and has been racing in the GT category since 2019. Runner-up in the 2021 24H GT Series – GT3 Pro class, he is the champion of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup – Silver champion in 2022, also occupies third place in the GT World Challenge Sprint Cup Silver class. In addition, Benjamin has competed in the Intercontinental GT Challenge class, the ADAC GT Masters, and the Le Mans Cup GT.
Benjamin Goethe
Nicolai Kjærgaard (below) also joined the program after having successfully raced the Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 in the GT World Challenge Europe which resulted in pole positions and a podium finish. The 23-year-old Danish driver, runner-up in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship, is making his GT racing debut in 2020.
Nicolai Kjærgaard
british driver Aston Millar (below) will be a McLaren Academy Driver. The 18-year-old racer finished third in last year’s Ginetta GT Supercup in England, having graduated as reigning champion Ginetta Junior and will continue his GT racing development with McLaren.
Aston Millar
“I am delighted to welcome Tom, Benjamin, Nicolai and Aston to the McLaren family. Tom has proven to be a formidable sports car and GT racer and will fit in well with Rob and Marvin in our line of Factory Drivers. Marvin has adapted well to a strong 2022 season and I am delighted we are able to keep him again for 2023. Rob’s tenacity and experience has been invaluable in developing the new Artura GT4 and Artura Trophy race car, which we have recognized by asking him to take on a more senior position in our Factory Driver team this year. Benjamin, Nicolai and Aston are exciting prospects for the future and we are looking forward to seeing how they progress into 2023,” said Ian Morgan, Director of Motorsport, McLaren Automotive.
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