 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2022) |
The McLaren GT Driver Academy, formerly known as McLaren GT Young Driver Programme is the programme launched by McLaren GT in 2015 to offer greater benefits to a larger pool of drivers who hold a range of different on-track experience.
| Driver | Years | 2017 series |
|---|---|---|
 Andrew Watson [1] | 2015–17 | Blancpain GT Series |
| Ben Barnicoat | 2017 | Blancpain GT Series |
 Loris Hezemans | 2017 | Blancpain GT Series |
 Jazeman Jaafar [2] | 2017 | Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup |
 David Fumanelli | 2017 | Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup |
| Sandy Mitchell | 2017 | British GT |
| Ciaran Haggerty | 2017 | British GT |
 Akhil Rabindra | 2017 | British GT |
| Dean Macdonald | 2017 | British GT |
| Driver | Years | Series competed |
|---|---|---|
| Ross Wylie | 2015 | British GT |
 Alex Fontana [3] | 2016 | Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup |
| Struan Moore | 2016 | Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup |
 Colin Thompson [4] | 2016 | Pirelli World Challenge |
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super GT Series alongside Naoki Yamamoto, with whom he shared a Honda racing car at Team Kunimitsu. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing with support from Stewart-Haas Racing and sponsorship from Mobil 1.
McLaren Automotive is a British luxury automotive manufacturer based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England. The main products of the company are sports cars, which are produced in-house in designated production facilities. In July 2017, McLaren Automotive became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the wider McLaren Group.
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and Lotus F1 teams, scoring a single victory at the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix. After leaving Formula One, he raced in the Japanese Super GT series between 2015 and 2021, where he won the championship in 2016.
Shane Robert van Gisbergen, also known by his initials SVG, is a New Zealand racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 97 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing in partnership with Trackhouse Racing, part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing, and part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving a Chevrolet SS for a team that is to be announced. He is known for his time racing in the Supercars Championship, last driving the No. 97 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 car for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is a three-time Supercars Champion, winning driver's titles in 2016, 2021, and 2022. With a total of 80 wins and 46 pole positions, van Gisbergen is 4th on the all-time wins list in the Supercars Championship. He has won the Bathurst 1000 three times, in 2020, 2022, and 2023.
Patrick Allen Lowe FREng, known as Paddy Lowe, is the founder and CEO of the fossil-free synthetic fuel company Zero. A former motor racing engineer and computer scientist, he spent 32 years working in Formula One, serving as Chief Technical Officer at Williams Racing, Executive Director (Technical) at Mercedes Formula One team and Technical Director at McLaren. He was involved with cars that won 12 World Championships and secured 158 race wins. He left Formula One in 2019 and co-founded Zero in 2020.
Alexander George Oliver Sims is a British professional racing driver, currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Whelen Engineering Racing. Previously Sims has driven in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship for Mahindra Racing and BMW i Andretti Motorsport, winning one race in Saudi Arabia.
William Jonathan Richard Stevens is a British racing driver, who formerly competed in Formula One, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Toyota Racing Series and the British Formula Renault Championships. In Formula One, he made his debut at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with Caterham F1, replacing Marcus Ericsson for the double points race. During the 2015 season he competed with the Manor Marussia F1 Team.
René Rast is a German professional racing driver and the 2017, 2019 and 2020 DTM champion. He last competed in Formula E. He claimed overall wins at the 2012 and 2014 24 Hours of Spa, 2014 24 Hours of Nürburgring and a class win at the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona.
Felix Rosenqvist is a Swedish professional racing driver who currently drives the No. 60 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing in the NTT IndyCar Series. He was named Rookie of the Year for the IndyCar Series in 2019.
Zakary Challen Brown is an American businessman and former professional racing driver, currently residing in England. He is the Chief Executive Officer of McLaren Racing. Born and raised in California, Brown raced professionally around the world for ten years before developing his skills in motorsport's business and commercial worlds.
United Autosports is a sports car racing team based in Wakefield, England, United Kingdom, founded by businessman Zak Brown and former driver Richard Dean.
Ferrari Driver Academy is an initiative from Formula One team Scuderia Ferrari to promote young talent inside its own organisation, with several drivers being selected and funded by the team, while under long-term contracts. Some notable former members include, Charles Leclerc, Sergio Pérez, Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher and Zhou Guanyu.
Andrew Robert Watson is a British racing driver from Northern Ireland currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship with CarStore Power Maxed Racing.
Sebastian "Seb" Morris is a professional racing driver from Marford, who lives in Chester, Cheshire. He won the 2017 British GT Championship. He also won the 2017 Sunoco Challenge which gave him the prize drive in the Number 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi at the Rolex 24 hours at Daytona. He led the race for three hours in his stint. Earlier in his career, Morris was a member of the Caterham F1 Academy and was selected by Jack Wills as a Young Brit for their 2013/14 Autumn / Winter campaign.
The 2016 GT Series Sprint Cup was the fourth season following on from the demise of the SRO Group's FIA GT1 World Championship, the third with the designation of Blancpain Sprint Series or Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup. After developing their partnership, Blancpain and the SRO decided that 2016 would see both the Sprint and Endurance Series further integrated into the Blancpain GT Series, putting the emphasis on the prestigious overall drivers' and manufacturers' titles causing the Sprint Series name to change from Blancpain Sprint Series to Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup.
The 2016 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup was the sixth season of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. The season started on 24 April at Monza and ended on 18 September at the Nürburgring. The season featured five rounds, with each race lasting for a duration of three hours besides the 24 Hours of Spa and the 1000 km Paul Ricard events. After developing their partnership, Blancpain and the SRO decided that 2016 would see both the Sprint and Endurance Series further integrated into the Blancpain GT Series, putting the emphasis on the prestigious overall drivers' and manufacturers' titles causing the Endurance Series name to change from Blancpain Endurance Series to Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.
The McLaren Driver Development Programme is a driver development program operated by McLaren. It is intended to offer year-by-year guidance, assistance and endorsement to help promising young racers climb the motorsport ladder.
The 2019 Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the twenty-seventh season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the fifteenth season the series has competed under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-seventh overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 14 and ended on November 24, after 8 championship races & 2 non-championship races.
Tom Gamble is a British racing driver who currently races for United Autosports in European Le Mans Series. He is a Ginetta Junior champion, a BRDC British Formula 3 race winner, and has previously competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He won the Autosport BRDC Award in 2018, for which he received a prize Formula One test with McLaren. Five years later, in 2023, Gamble joined McLaren as a factory driver.
Dean MacDonald is a British racing driver who competes for JP Motorsport in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup.