James: “Solid Foundation” for McLaren Trophy America

Photo: Adam Pigott/McLaren

McLaren Automotive director of motorsport Ian James has proclaimed the launch of McLaren Trophy America as a “solid foundation” with further growth expected over the course of the inaugural season.

The SRO America-run single-make series makes its debut this weekend at Sonoma Raceway with a solid 15-car grid of McLaren Artura Trophy Evo cars.

It comes following two years of the series in Europe, also under the SRO Motorsports Group umbrella.

“From a market perspective, it’s a no-brainer,” James told Sportscar365 on the reason to expand to the North American market. “The U.S. is our biggest market for McLaren, especially for the Artura as well.

“Motorsport is still riding the quest of a wave so there’s so much going on and there’s so much appetite for it. It’s just the right time to be able to come in and tap into this market as well.

“Combined with the fanbase you’ve got here, you’ve got some incredible circuits as well.

“SRO has the experience with the setup and running things in Europe. Also having local knowledge here is absolutely key.”

James, who was appointed the brand’s motorsport director last November in addition to his existing commitments as team principal of the NEOM McLaren Formula E team, said it was “difficult to know” what to expect for the inaugural season of Trophy America.

“Markets react differently as well as how quick they are to jump on board with this thing,” he said. “When we looked at the back end of last year, you’re thinking, ‘Where are we at?’

“There was confidence that we were going to have a good grid size here and you can tell there’s enough interest.

“I think with the 15 cars that we’ve got here starting this weekend, that’s a really solid foundation.

“I believe that’s going to continue to expand over the course of this season and then provide us with a great platform for the seasons ahead.

“My expectation is actually we’ll be talking in the future about what’s the ideal grid size. Because also what we don’t want to do is have grids that are too large and then we affect the quality of the racing.”

Former McLaren GT factory driver Rob Bell, who has become McLaren Motorsport sporting director, said the integration with SRO America has been “quite seamless.”

“The guys have been here, they know what they’re doing,” Bell told Sportscar365. “The package is mature so it’s not like we’re coming into a series that’s finding its way.

“We spoke with Stephane [Ratel] yesterday and certainly I got the impression of how much he knows about the global GT market.

“We sat here for 30 minutes. The guy just knows the market, knows what he’s doing, he knows how to exploit new regions.

“But actually it was quite interesting. His point yesterday was that we know what we’re doing but we’re now looking to maximizing it.

“He’s taken one or two extra staff on, looking at the marketing side, and how we can get crowds in. Actually that was a very good thing for us to see, he’s not just resting on his laurels.

“The foundations were there.

“Coming in was quite easy but actually also quite exciting. To be a part of that is quite reassuring as a brand that these guys have got it and know how to organize these things.”

McLaren Trophy Asia to Launch “When Time is Right”

With the established Trophy Europe and early success from Trophy America, James hinted that the next step in McLaren Trophy’s expansion could be into the Asian market, although would not give a specific timeframe.

“Watch this space,” he said. “I think it’s something we’ll continue to monitor. I’m heading to Tokyo tonight and we’ll start talking about what the opportunities are for us.

“We’ll take the opportunity to have some discussions about what the market looks like out there.

“We’ll make that move when the time is right. That comes with its own challenges from a logistics perspective and so-on, so I think we’ve got to educate ourselves first and make sure we’re making the right moves.

“First and foremost, we want to make sure [Trophy America] is established. We took a conscious decision not to expand and add to the program too quickly.

“Ultimately we want to make sure the teams, the customers are all super happy with the service they’re getting, that they’re enjoying the experience as well.

“That’s paramountly important. It takes a lot of focus and a lot of work for the team. We want to make sure we get that established and stabilized before we start to look further beyond into new operations.”