In 2025, once again, the crop of up-and-comers across the sportscar racing landscape was beyond impressive. In Europe, the ELMS and Le Mans Cup series are obvious and premier breeding grounds for young talent today, but the WEC, IMSA, SUPER GT, and SRO’s GT racing platforms are producing awe-inspiring talent in numbers, too.
First, some honourable mentions, starting with the clear standouts in the ELMS LMP3 pack, Adrien Closmenil and Theodor Jensen. They were sublime all season long for CLX Motorsport, winning five of six races en route to the title. Next year, they’re both stepping up to LMP2, and we’re eager to see what comes next.
Elsewhere in the ELMS, Alex Quinn enjoyed yet another impressive season, fighting for the LMP2 Pro/Am title with Algarve Pro Racing. He increasingly looks like the real deal; evidence of this is that Peugeot’s Hypercar team has picked him up as a development driver in 2026.
Oliver Gray was another British driver who made real progress in 2025, winning the ELMS LMP2 title in fine style with VDS Panis Racing. The difference in his confidence and speed in his second year of LMP2 racing was stark. He looked right at home alongside Charles Milesi and another young gun who continues to turn heads, Esteban Masson. We’re hoping he can kick on in 2026 and take another step forward.
Looking further than prototype racing, in the GT3 ranks across the world Loek Hartog lit up timing screens racing in Porsche GT3s around the world, winning this year’s Porsche Cup as the most successful independent driver in Porsche machinery.
From the FIA WEC LMGT3 ranks, Ben Tuck for Proton Competition and Finn Gehrsitz with AKKODIS ASP produced multiple stellar drives. Tuck also shone in World Challenge Europe with WRT and in multiple series with Kessel Racing, showing off his ability to find the limit in a variety of GT3 models.
And in Asia, keep an eye on young Rikuto Kobayashi – no relation to Kamui, but every bit a star of Toyota’s future. With CarGuy MKS Racing in SUPER GT GT300, he looked special aboard the team’s Ferrari 296 GT3.
Over in the USA, Fred Vesti began to hit his stride in a prototype aboard the Whelen Cadillac, playing a significant role in the #31’s Petit Le Mans win to finish the season.
Further down the ladder, Robert Noaker collected trophies on a seemingly weekly basis in Mustang Dark Horse Rs. It was a truly dominant season, with the Ford Racing Junior Team member winning all 12 Mustang Challenge championship races, leading every practice session and qualifying session and taking the pole position at each round, setting the fastest lap and leading every lap of the season.
Luca Mars, too, deserves praise for his season in Michelin Pilot Challenge, winning the GS title with RS1 off the back of multiple wins and a handful of additional podiums.
Dailysportscar’s 2025 Rising Star of the Year
Mathys Jaubert
But there was one driver who, to DSC’s staff, stood out from the crowd, and that was Mathys Jaubert. The 20-year-old Frenchman came seemingly out of nowhere and dazzled in the Genesis-backed IDEC Sport ORECA all season long in the ELMS.
After impressing IDEC and Genesis at a pre-season test, he was named as part of the Genesis Magma Racing Trajectory Programme and from the word ‘go’ looked rapid.
Entrusted with qualifying and crucial stints in races throughout the campaign, he played a key role in putting himself and teammates Daniel Juncadella and Jamie Chadwick in title contention, winning three of the six races. It wasn’t a perfect year for the #18 crew, but Jaubert emerged without any significant blots on his copybook despite a mid-season bout of meningitis.
How impressive was he? He’s driven himself into a factory Hypercar drive with the Korean make as a Silver. He’s cool, calm, confident, and uber-talented. What’s scary, at least from the opposition’s point of view, is that it feels like things are just getting started.
