Greystone GT are delighted to announce that Iain Campbell and Oli Webb will contest the all-new McLaren Trophy this year aboard an Artura race car.
The all-British line-up is the second pairing to be named by Silverstone-based Greystone GT, joining Ron Trenka and Jon Lancaster in the five-event series that will support the GT World Challenge Europe at some of the continent’s best-known circuits.
After scoring his maiden race win in the Pure McLaren GT Series at COTA in 2021, Iain claimed Greystone GT’s first international race victory last year as he partnered Oli and Jamie Clarke to GT4 success at the Gulf 12 Hours in Abu Dhabi.
The Sandhurst racer then graduated to GT3 machinery for the rest of the season; winning twice in the GT Cup aboard a McLaren 720S GT3 and finishing fourth in the Drivers’ Championship.
He was also eighth in Pro-Am on his British GT debut at Spa-Francorchamps and won on his first British Endurance Championship appearance at Setterton.
Oli, meanwhile, has enjoyed a huge number of international successes over a 15-year professional racing career that began with title-challenging campaigns in Formula Renault UK, British Formula 3 and Formula Renault 3.5.
The Knutsford driver switched to sportscar racing in 2013; winning the European Le Mans Series overall crown and scoring an LMP2 podium at the Le Mans 24 Hours a year later before adding outright victory at the 2015 Dubai 24 Hours.
Following a number of seasons in the FIA World Endurance Championship, he joined Greystone GT in 2021, finishing on the GT Cup class podium five times with Iain and partnering him to all three of his wins last year.
The new-for-2023 McLaren Trophy features classes for the fastest versions of both the Artura and the 570S race cars. Each round will support the GT World Challenge Europe at one of the continent’s best endurance racing circuits.
Every event features a pair of 50-minute races with pro-am line-ups allowed in each car and the emphasis placed on bronze-graded drivers like Iain to make the crucial difference.
McLaren Trophy calendar 2023
Round 1: Paul Ricard (F) – Jun 2-4
Round 2: Spa-Francorchamps (B) – Jun 29-Jul 1
Round 3: Nurburgring (D) – Jul 28-30
Round 4: Hockenheim (D) – Sep 1-3
Round 5: Barcelona (E) – Sep 30-Oct 1
Iain Campbell said: “Although I love the UK circuits, I was really keen to compete at some new tracks in Europe this year, especially after racing at Spa in British GT, and the McLaren Trophy gives me that opportunity. I loved the McLaren Artura GT4 car when I tested it last Autumn and knew it was a good race car, so the Trophy-spec version, which is somewhere between a GT4 and a GT3 in performance, is going to be even more fun. I’m entering the McLaren Trophy with the aim of winning races and challenging for the title, even though I expect the level of competition to be high. Having Oli alongside me – who’s been coaching me for eight years and winning races with me for the past two – gives us and Greystone GT a great opportunity to do just that.”
Oli Webb said: “I’m excited to race in the McLaren Trophy with Iain an Greystone GT this year. The Artura Trophy car is a lot more powerful than the GT4 version and has a bigger wing and splitter so it should be quicker through the corners too. The Pro-Am format should make it interesting and the fact that there’s no Balance of Performance [BoP] because it’s a one-make series means there are going to be so many cars in with a chance of winning every race, so we’re going to have to do our homework in testing and come out all-guns blazing to try to be at the front from the get-go. Iain’s driving has improved so much over the past two seasons that I’m sure we can put up a good fight as we target race wins and the class title.”
Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “When we first found out about the McLaren Trophy, we knew it was going to be a championship that our drivers were going to want to compete in and it’s worked out exactly that way. The progress made by Iain on-track over the past two seasons means this is absolutely the right time for him to make this step up to European racing and with Oli alongside him I think we’ll have an extremely competitive pairing once the season starts. With only five rounds you can’t afford to drop points early at any stage so we know we’ll have to bring our A-game to be at the front, but we relish the challenge and are looking forward to it.”
