Optimum Motorsport has confirmed an all-British crew to pilot its McLaren 720S EVO, which will feature a striking new red and black livery in this season's Fanatec GT Endurance Cup.
The Wakefield-based squad won last year's Gold Cup class under the Inception Racing banner and will defend the title this year, albeit with a new crew of drivers and a revised class structure. The Gold Cup now calls for a maximum line-up of Gold / Gold / Silver and the team has enlisted Charlie Fagg, Dean MacDonald and Sam De Haan for 2023.
De Haan has recent Fanatec GT Europe experience with Barwell Motorsport and RAM Racing and was previously an Intelligent Money British GT front-runner. Fagg made his series debut driving am Aston Martin for Beechdean AMR at last year's CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and was GT4 European Series champion in 2021, while MacDonald, earned last year's Sprint Cup crown in the Pro-Am class.
“It’s great to be back in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS again for this season with the new 720S EVO," said team principal Shaun Goff. “Dean is a proven race winner and adding him to the line-up alongside Sam and Charlie, an already strong duo in itself, will hopefully see us go for gold once again this season.”
The #5 Optimum McLaren has participated in this week's Fanatec GT Europe prologue at Circuit Paul Ricard, logging more than 100 laps on Tuesday. The season-opening race will take place at Monza on 21-23 April, followed by trips to Circuit Paul Ricard (2–4 June), the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa (29 June–2 July), the Nürburgring (28–30 July) and Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya (29 September–1 October).
