Goethe joins Gilbert and Rueda for 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series campaign with Optimum

Andrew Gilbert and Fran Rueda, who had previously run under the Altitude Racing by Optimum Motorsport banner towards the latter stages of 2023 and raced at British GT’s blue riband event with the Wakefield-based squad for this year’s Silverstone 500, will be joined by McLaren Junior Driver, Benji Goethe for the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series.

The pairing claimed their first win together last summer in their first venture with Optimum at Circuit Paul Ricard, securing a Pro-Am win in the International GT Open. This year, they've spent the season racing across Europe in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, securing podium finishes to claim third in the series' GT3 standings. Gilbert and Rueda will join forces with Benji, who most recently claimed third overall in the latter of the two Fanatec GT Sprint races at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last month.

The trio will take on six, four-hour races across three weekends in the team’s #27 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, starting at Sepang International Circuit next month before the series heads to the Middle East for back-to-back rounds next February at Dubai Autodrome and Yas Marina Circuit.

“It’s great to have Andy and Fran back with us. They were successful last year right off the back when they joined the team, and with the addition of Benji I’m looking forward to seeing what the trio can do,” said Team Principal, Shaun Goff.

The action kickstarts on Thursday 5th December with the series’ private testing before the official action gets underway on Friday. Qualifying and both the races (Saturday December 7 and Sunday December 8) will be shown live on the Asian Le Mans Series YouTube channel.