Paddock Motorsport will field a twin attack for its maiden McLaren Trophy Europe campaign, with an entry each into the championship’s Pro-Am and Am categories.
British GT race-winner Thomas Holland will make the step into European competition this year, and will be partnered in the Pro-Am entry with experienced GT and touring car racer Nick Halstead. The team’s second car will run in the Am category, with former British GT and GT Cup racer Tim Docker driving solo.
Having celebrated multiple race wins and podium finishes across domestic competitions since its first season in 2021, Paddock Motorsport will now take its first steps into European competition with its two new McLaren Artura Trophy Evo cars. Capable of producing in excess of 580PS – and up to 620PS thanks to a new push-to-pass boost system – the machines promise to take the Artura platform to a new level.
Holland and Halstead will undoubtedly be ones to watch aboard the #40 Pro-Am car. Holland, 22, began his GT racing career in Ginetta machinery, finishing second in the G40 Cup in 2021 before progressing through the British marque’s GT Academy series and into GT4. He became a race winner on his first attempt in British GT in 2023, and added a second success in the season finale at Brands Hatch last year.
Halstead, 52, makes a return to GT racing after two years competing in the British Touring Car Championship. Having started his racing career in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge in 2017, he claimed that title at his second attempt before finishing third in class in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup in 2020. A move into the British GT Championship followed where he became an outright race winner aboard a McLaren 720S GT3 at Spa-Francorchamps in 2022.
Docker, 59, will handle Paddock’s #78 Artura Trophy Evo in the Am class. He has experience of competing in both GT and touring cars. A 2016 rookie in the Volkswagen Racing Cup, Docker then upgraded to TCR cars, racing in TCR UK and Britcar where he won Driver of the Year in 2018 and the Class 4 Championship in 2019, as a solo driver. He switched to GT4 machinery in 2021, claiming several GT Cup class wins and podium finishes in 2021, 2022 and 2023. He competed with Paddock in an Artura GT4 during 2023 before contesting last year’s British GT Championship in an Audi R8 LMS GT4. In January 2024 he finished second in the GT4 class at the 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi and in January this year he celebrated a landmark victory in the GT4 class of the Dubai 24 Hours.
Thomas Holland says: “I am very much looking forward to the season ahead with Paddock Motorsport. I have known the Plowmans for a few years now, with it finally being time to make the move to the team official. I’m glad to have been welcomed into the family and am eager to see what we can achieve together! Having Nick as my team-mate should be great as he has a huge amount of experience from racing both touring cars and GT cars, so we should work well together. The McLaren Trophy is a great next step for myself in my career with all the opportunities McLaren have added to the championship, along with putting myself in a completely new environment with a new challenge and I can’t wait to dive back into racing later this year!”
Nick Halstead says: “Business commitments meant another season in touring cars wasn’t possible for this year, so this is a fantastic opportunity to try something new, but also go back to my roots in a way. I obviously got started in GT racing through GT4, racing first a Ginetta and then the old McLaren 570S, which I still have. I have yet to try the new Artura, but I imagine it will be a step forward from the old car and I’m really looking forward to getting back into racing something with grip! Touring cars are incredibly tricky to drive, and are very loose at the rear in general, so the McLaren should be a more comfortable car to race and I’m just looking forward to going out there and having some fun this year. Tom knows what he’s doing in these cars, so I’m looking forward to working with him, and with Paddock, which is a team I’ve known for a fair few years now.”
Tim Docker says: “I wanted a new challenge for this year and moving on to compete in Europe gives me exactly that. I’ve raced all of the UK circuits for years, whereas I’ve never competed at tracks like Monza, Paul Ricard and the Nürburgring, so it will be a fresh experience. I’ve had a few tests with the new Artura Trophy car and it’s a big step forward. It feels like sitting in a normal GT4 until you realise quite how much faster it is in a straight line and how much extra grip you get from the new aero and the larger wheels, you can brake so much later and get back on the power earlier – it’s a monster of a thing. I’m really looking forward to being back with Paddock. It’s a great team with a really good atmosphere and we’ve enjoyed multiple successes in series like GT Cup, so I’m hoping for more of the same this year. I also have my eye on the McLaren Papaya Cup [for eligible amateur drivers], which would be a wonderful thing to win.”
Paddock Motorsport founder Martin Plowman adds: “We’re delighted to unveil our twin entries into this year’s McLaren Trophy Europe. This is a new adventure for the team, and we’re really excited about what lies ahead. We have a great relationship with McLaren and extensive experience of operating the Artura GT4, so we have a good base of knowledge to translate into the Trophy Evo. Testing with the new car has gone well and we’ve already started unlocking some of the car’s secrets, but there is always a lot of learning to be done, especially with the new European tracks we’ll get to visit.
“In Thomas and Nick we have two highly experienced GT racers who will no doubt hit the ground running and be going for the Pro-Am title. Tim has a wealth of experience and will benefit from the extra track time of racing his car solo in the Am class. Between our two cars I believe we have every chance to fight for trophies from the start of the season.”
The McLaren Trophy Europe season gets underway on familiar soil at Brands Hatch before taking in Monza in Italy and Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium where it will support the world-famous CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa. The Trophy cars will also be eligible to take part in the incredible parade through the public streets into Spa centre, an annual highlight of the world’s biggest GT racing event. The Nürburgring in Germany and Circuit Paul Ricard in France cap the 10-race schedule.