Morpeth's Kell brings curtain down on GT World Challenge Europe campaign

James Kell, from Morpeth, claimed a top-seven finish in the Gold Cup category of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance finale at Portimão last weekend (17 Oct) resulting in a fourth place finish in the final Gold Driver’s standings.

The 29-year-old official McLaren GT3 Junior Driver plus Simon Gachet and Jim Pla, the latter replacing an injured Arthur Rougier, achieved a Gold Cup placing of seventh in their CSA Racing entered McLaren 720S EVO. 

Kell, who won an International GT Open race at Portimão driving a McLaren in April 2025, started the three-hour race from eighth in Gold. He ran in and around that position before handing over to Pla at one-third distance having diced for sixth in class in a race featuring four-time Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen in the huge 61-car field.

The McLaren was handicapped for pace after front aerodynamic aids were dislodged early on but Pla battled over fourth near the end of his stint before pitting to Gachet with 56mins to run who challenged for fifth but took the chequered flag seventh after a late puncture.

Kell finished seventh in the Sprint Gold Cup after scoring two race wins at Magny Cours (France) but finished third overall in the final standings combining Sprint and Endurance results.

In the Endurance Cup, James claimed a season best second-place finish at Paul Ricard (France) and brings his year’s racing exploits to a close by contesting the final round of the GT Open in Barcelona with father, Darren, this weekend (24-25 Oct).

Kell commented: “Overall it’s been a tough season, suffering just plain bad luck at times but that can be motor racing sometimes.

“CSA Racing and McLaren have done a good job for me all season but sometimes the breaks just didn’t come to us.

“In Portugal we had some issues with the differential and turbo and in a field of over sixty cars, with lap times so close, any small problem restricts our pace costing us crucial time.

“But we also had some strong results like at Magny Cours and Paul Ricard and I’m looking forward to build on these next year. My thanks go to CSA, McLaren plus my co-drivers during the year, Simon [Gachet], Jim [Pla] and of course Arthur [Rougier]. I’m already hard at work planning for 2027 so watch this space!”