American racer Rafa Martinez will return to the McLaren Trophy Europe grid with F1 Academy racer Jessica Edgar and will be run by Race Lab.
No stranger to racing in McLaren Trophy, Rafa made his series debut in 2023 with Greystone GT racing a 570S to within a race of winning the title. Last year he moved to the European GT4 Series, teaming up with Jon Lancaster, where they enjoyed five points scoring finishes on their way to 16th in the championship. Rafa already has some experience behind the wheel of the new-for-2025 McLaren Trophy EVO, having raced to victory in race two at COTA when McLaren Trophy America visited in April.
Cumbria-based Jessica is part of the successful Edgar kart racing family, and cousin to FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA race winner Jonny. After starting her motorsport career in karting aged five, she gained several wins and represented the UK in the Motorsport Games in Karting Slalom. Moving to single seaters in 2022, Jess entered the GB4 championship before graduating to F1 Academy a year later where she was a race winner.
There will be some other new faces on the grid, and some familiar faces in new places. Lukas Sundahl will step into the driving seat of the number 88 ALFAB racing entry to replace Ashley Marshall, while series debutant Robin Knutsson will take the seat vacated by Lukas at ALM Motorsport to partner with Mikael Karlsson. 23-year-old Robin has three years of one-make racing under his belt in Scandinavia, including a win at Le Mans in 2023.
Another series debutant will be Jens Richter, who will be substituting for Andreas Greiling in the number 28 MS Racing car. 49-year-old Jens brings a wealth of endurance racing experience to the team, with no fewer than six 24 Hours of Nürburgring starts to his name, as well as a host of other races over 18 years of racing. Partnering with Kevin Rohrscheidt, the duo should be strong Am class pairing.
Bringing the grid up to 18 cars will be Albert Jochems and Charles Zwolsman in their Niemann Autosport entered car. Championship regulars in 2023 and 2024, business has meant Albert has had to put racing to one side this year, but the prospect or racing at Spa has enticed the duo back for a weekend in the McLaren Trophy EVO car.
Teams and drivers will be at the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit on Wednesday ready to participate in the parade that evening. Always a highlight, the race cars will drive approximately six miles from the track over public roads to Spa town centre, where they park up allowing fans to get a closer look and meet the drivers. The first track action will be the following day with two, 60-minute Free Practice sessions taking place at 9am CET and 15:20pm
The first qualifying session is set to commence at 9:50 on Friday morning, with race one following at 13:35. The drivers won’t be done though as second qualifying will take place at 17:10 that evening to determine the grid for race two. It will then be lights out at 10:50 on Saturday morning to start the race and the beginning of the second half of the 2025 season. Both races will be streamed live through the McLaren Automotive YouTube channel.