Martin Plowman is no stranger to motorsport paddocks around the world having successfully raced in Indycar, Indy Lights, the American Le Mans Series, as well as winning the LMP2 class of the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship LMP2 title in the same year.
These days he’s seem more often in the British GT paddock piloting the McLaren GT3 EVO he shares with American driver Mark Smith. This weekend however he’ll be pulling on his distinctive red and yellow crash helmet to partner Pro class driver Tom Holland for his McLaren Trophy debut. We had a chat with him ahead of the weekend to find out more.
Martin, stepping into the McLaren Trophy EVO car is a new challenge for you. Are you looking forward to it?
I’m really looking forward to it, yes. The opportunity came up last minute for me to jump in the car and I naturally grabbed it with both hands. I don’t feel like there's a lot of pressure and I'm treating it as a one-off appearance. It's a fantastic championship but It's going to be extremely challenging because there's a lot of high-level drivers competing. The focus is just going to be on developing the car, working with Tom, and hopefully getting a good result.
When was the last time you raced at the Nürburgring?
The last time I raced at the Nürburgring was in 2016 when I was racing the McLaren 650S in GT3 with Garage 59. The year before I was racing with JRM and I was on pole in Q2 in the Blancpain Endurance Series. it was a good time for me then, so hopefully I can do the same again.
Have you driven the McLaren Trophy EVO?
I did five laps two weeks ago, so I can't say that I've got a lot of experience with the car! I will be on the back foot for sure going against the drivers who have been in the car all season. We've got testing on Thursday and hopefully we'll figure it out and give it our best shot.
Have you been able to prepare in any other ways?
I suppose I’ve had the benefit of at least being on the pit being and able to look at the data from our two cars that have been racing in the championship this season. It’s not the same as testing but I’m not coming in completely cold.
It doesn’t sound like you’re daunted by the prospect of making your debut mid-season?
No, I'm just really excited to be part of the championship. Seeing it grow year on year has been really nice to see, so I just to be part of that atmosphere and to enjoy myself. I'm here to do the best job I can.