While not expecting to ‘just rock up and be straight on the pace’, Garage 59 is laser-focused on success as it prepares to make its debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship this year, says Team Principal, Andrew Kirkaldy.
The British outfit joins FIA WEC with a strong pedigree in sportscar racing. Established in 2016, Garage 59 has competed in the GT World Challenge Europe, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Bathurst 12 Hour, Intercontinental GT Challenge, British GT Championship, Asian Le Mans Series and International GT Open, achieving multiple podiums, wins and titles along the way. Now, the team has its sights firmly set on glory at the international pinnacle of the long-distance discipline.
The UK-based squad’s arrival in the world championship has been several years in the making, Kirkaldy admits, and once discussions with McLaren Automotive began ahead of the 2025 season finale in Bahrain last autumn, an agreement was rapidly reached.
“We had looked at doing FIA WEC before, and we were in the running for the LMGT3 gig that ultimately went the way of United Autosports,” he reveals. “With United moving up to Hypercar and understandably putting its full focus on that project, the opportunity presented itself again.
“The team was already very busy with our programme in the GT World Challenge as well as all of our activities outside of motor racing, but we knew this required serious consideration and we just felt the timing was right. We managed to put everything together and everything happened quite quickly.
“United have been fantastic to work with and have done absolutely everything they can to make the transition as smooth as possible. They’ve been extremely open and there has been an excellent transfer of information – it’s been better than we could ever have wished for.”
One ace up Garage 59’s sleeve ahead of the curtain-raising contest in Qatar on 28 March is that it has extensive experience of the McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo that it will field this year, reaching the top step of the rostrum on three occasions with the car in 2025 in the GT World Challenge Europe – albeit using a different tyre brand to the Goodyears it will run in FIA WEC.
That prior knowledge, concedes Kirkaldy, ‘is definitely a big advantage’, and the Scot – a former podium-finisher in-class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans during his own career behind the wheel – is similarly ‘really excited’ about the team’s six-strong driving crew for the forthcoming campaign.
“I think it’s a strong line-up,” he enthused, “and I’m confident everybody will get to grips with this new challenge very quickly. Benji [Goethe], Alexander [West], Marvin [Kirchhöfer] and Tom [Fleming] are all well-known to Garage 59, and that element of continuity can only be a positive.
“Alex has a lot of experience, Marvin for me is one of the top pros in the world, Benji has come on a lot with us over the past three years and I rate Tom very highly as a ‘Silver’. As for Antares [Au], we’d been talking about doing something like this for a long time – it had just never come to fruition before.
“Finn was introduced to me by Ben Barnicoat, who I brought into GT racing in my previous role running the McLaren programme and whose opinion I really trust. He told me he rated Finn very highly and that we should have a talk with him. We’ve only spent a few days together so far, but he looks very impressive.
“I’ve obviously been a driver myself, and as such, I know just how hard it is to find a way to forge a professional career in this sport – and it’s only getting tougher. That’s why as a team, we’ve always done our best to try to nurture up-and-coming talents and help them to climb the ladder.”
As to aims and expectations for the season ahead, Kirkaldy is measured in his immediate ambitions but clear that in the longer term, Garage 59 has one goal and one goal only.
“We’re aware we have a lot to learn and we don’t have experience of all the tracks on the calendar, but quite a few members of the team do know the championship and we contested Le Mans in 2022 with a different make of car,” he explains.
“It’s a question of everybody getting used to working together so the whole operation gels – you can have the fastest car in the field, but you’ve still got to get everything else right. We’re not expecting to just rock up and be straight on the pace – the best teams in the world race in FIA WEC, so the opposition will be strong and it’s certainly not going to be a walk in the park but we’re putting in as much preparation as we can.
“As a team, our aim is always to win races, and that doesn’t change just because we’re now competing at world championship level – ultimately, we want to be fighting for podium positions and victories. In Qatar, we will get an idea of where we are in the pecking-order. Given the short timeframe we’ve had to work with, I think we are in as good a shape as possible.”
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