Greystone GT are excited to announce that International GT Open race winners James Kell and Dean MacDonald will return for a full-season assault on the championship in 2025.
The British duo claimed the team’s maiden series win at the ‘Monza 500’ finale in October and will next year race the same McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, in which they contested 2024’s final three events, in the Pro category.
James, from Morpeth, has made a strong impression on GT racing since his category debut in 2020, claiming wins in the British GT Championship’s GT4 class on his way to third in the following year’s standings and, last year, a class podium at the Dubai 24 Hours.
Runner-up in British GT’s GT3 Silver-Am category in 2022 and third in ’23, he stepped up to full-time international competition in year, winning the Silver Cup class at the 24 Hours of Spa, and then the GT Open finale with Greystone GT.
Part of McLaren’s factory driver line-up in 2024, Dean, from Kelty, near Edinburgh, was another to make a big impression in British GT as he finished third in the GT4 standings in just his second season of racing in 2019.
A winner in the ultra-competitive GT4 European Series, Dean moved into GT3 in 2022 and won the GT World Challenge Europe Pro-Am title; adding a Gold Cup victory at last year’s 24 Hours of Spa and then partnering James to a GT Open victory at Monza.
James and Dean are the first confirmed pairing in what is anticipated to be a multi-car line-up for the Silverstone-based team.
The 2025 International GT Open features eight events across Europe starting at Portimao, Portugal on April 25-27 and ending at Monza, Italy on October 17-19.
James Kell said: “I’m already excited about getting the 2025 season started. I think the success we had across the final three events of this year have proved the point that we can be up there and fighting for podiums from the word ‘go’. Dean and I didn’t know each other until we started this programme, but already we have a similar mindset in terms of what we want from the car and how to push things forwards and the Greystone GT team have supported us brilliantly so far. The chance to challenge for an overall title is so motivating and if we can have a really positive pre-season, I think we can do just that.”
Dean MacDonald said: “It’s fantastic to have this programme confirmed with Greystone GT and James. The International GT Open is a high-quality series and the measures that the series put in place to stop one team dominating, like pitstop success handicaps, mean that you can’t expect to win every race. That means that if you’re aiming for the championship – as we will be – you have to play the long game and bank as many points as you can at every event. James and I get on really well, Greystone GT always give us a strong McLaren and the performances and results across our three weekends in 2024 give me a lot of confidence that it’s going to be a strong year.”
Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “We’re delighted to turn James and Dean’s programme into a full-season effort. That was the aim when we took part in the final rounds of 2024, but seeing how well they performed with a podium on their debut weekend and the win to end the year made us determined to put everything in place for 2025. This will be the most exciting season to date for Greystone GT across all series and being right at the front in the International GT Open across a whole year is the firm target.”
