McLaren Trophy America “New Challenge” For Pintos

Photo: Adam Pigott/McLaren

Inaugural McLaren Trophy Europe champion Tommy Pintos says his campaign in the British manufacturer’s American branch of the single-make series presents a “new challenge” as he gets to grips with new circuits and a new field of competitors in the U.S.

After winning the first-ever season of McLaren Trophy Europe driver’s title in 2023, the Spaniard continued his overseas effort in 2024, finishing runner-up in the points before transitioning to compete in the series’ first season of American competition with Skip Barber Racing, complete with status as a McLaren Graduate.

“The opportunity came to race in the U.S.,” Pintos told Sportscar365.  “And I think it was quite good and quite important to fully focus on it because it’s a new challenge.

“In my racing career, at the end it’s just keeping with the learning curve and improving.

“It’s the beginning of a new stage here in the U.S., and I had already been racing a couple years in Europe. It’s a new challenge for me in my young career. I always like to have this type of challenge. Learning new tracks, racing against new people.

“We have five races that are really, really cool. The calendar is excellent, and it’s a pleasure to be racing these tracks and learning them for the first time.

“The good thing about it is that it’s run by the same people. McLaren is still McLaren here and everywhere in the world. The people who run the championship in Europe and here are the same ones, so the difference is that they keep improving.”

Pintos was also among those who aided the British brand in its development of the Artura Trophy Evo ahead of this season, testing the car and its heavily updated components alongside select McLaren factory drivers.

“They keep making all of these improvements to make the championship and all of the cars more competitive and make everything more equal for everyone,” said Pintos.

“It was quite good working alongside the factory to develop this. The evo kit comes with a lot of upgrades, and I think the most important one for the divers and the racecraft is the push-to-pass.

“You can use it in attacking, you can use it in defense, on the outside of a corner, in a straight line, etc. A lot of improvements. The Artura [Trophy] is amazing. The Artura [Trophy] Evo is the evolution of amazing. It’s a superb car.

“It’s faster than GT3 cars in a straight line, so you have that speed, so I really loved being in the car. As soon as I jumped out, I was with a smile from ear to ear, saying ‘Yeah. This is a proper race car.’

“I drove a couple of the cars from the single-make championships, but after driving the Artura for the first time, it was quite a shock of an experience of how the car works and how it gives feeling and how it transfers what it needs to the driver.

“It’s quite a reactive car. It gives you a lot of information.”

The Spanish driver sits three points off of the Pro class points lead with Skip Barber teammate Cooper Broll ahead of this weekend’s triple-header at the Circuit of The Americas following a second place class finish and a top-ten overall performance in the series’ debut race at Sonoma Raceway in March.

“My goal at the end of the day is to do a good job and try to win the Pro-Pro pairing with my teammate Cooper [Broll] and try to do the best results we can here,” he said.

“It’s a lot of experience, already [over] two years. I already know the car and the other race car drivers in Europe were really quick so all of the experience that I learned during these two years, I’m using it to improve myself and to improve alongside the team and my co-driver to make up both a really good pairing and try to win the championship.

“The plan, alongside the factory, is trying to keep racing. Endurance racing. We’re jumping in, we’re doing some tests with the GT3 already, so looking forward in that way.”