Louis Prette leads the overall Gold Cup driver standings in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS while combining his general manager role at his family jewellery company, APM Monaco. Being busy on and off track, the 28‑year‑old McLaren junior driver doesn’t show any difficulties keeping up the pace, and in fact has plenty of battles with the Pro‑category factory drivers, as racing has been in his blood from the start through his, now 62-year old, father Philippe Prette. Having his dad as mentor alongside him, the Monegasque‑Italian driver still carries those lessons with him as he chases championship success with Garage 59 in the McLaren 720S GT3 in both endurance and sprint. 

Bad grades, late start 

Born on 31 July 1998 in Monaco, racing started first just for fun. “The first time my dad put me in a go‑kart, it was quite young, I was probably eight years old at that point.” 

Being put into a kart by his dad is not something that was done without him already having the passion for it. “I remember being at tracks since I was probably four or five years old. It definitely came from him.” 

Having experienced what it feels like to race around a karting track and having the love for driving fast inside him, doing it professionally started relatively late. “At 14 years I started racing in actual karts. It’s a bit of a shame…” 

But there was one specific reason behind that: “Because I was bad at school,” he explains to GT REPORT. 

With his dad racing in Asia in the Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific, where he won multiple titles, the career of the at‑that‑time 18‑year‑old kicked off in the same continent in 2016. Competing in the Asian Formula Renault Series and the Asian Le Mans Series behind the wheel of an LMP3 there. 

He drove Formula and LMP3 cars in Asia until 2018, where in that year he already made two appearances in the Ferrari Challenge Europe driving the Ferrari 488 Challenge. “I had the chance and my dad left me two doors open to say whether I wanted to pursue a career in motorsport or whether I wanted to work. And I chose to work and this is why I went to GT. When you want to continue Formula, you can’t do both. So I decided to work and looking back, I think that was the right decision.” 

Writing father–son history with mentality 

Working for his family company APM Monaco, he combined it with competing for a full season in 2019. “We raced that year both in the Ferrari Challenge, but what was funny was that he did the Asian championship and I did the European, and we both ended up champions which I think never happened in the history of Ferrari Challenge. That a father and son won the overall class in two different continents.” 

To write history was far from easy. “I had no clue about any tracks in Europe. So I was discovering all the tracks in Europe in a very short time. And that year there was quite a big level because there was Neubauer, and a few other good drivers that are top GT drivers now. But eventually it was a good year.” 

In that year he also raced with his dad together in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Proton Competition in the Porsche 911 RSR, finishing 6th in the LMGTE Am class. 

What he takes with him from his dad is: “He taught me the most that it’s always your fault if something happens. You always need to work hard to improve and get what you want.” 

He elaborates on how that is still the same mentality he has today. 

“When I see parents complaining about, ‘oh yeah, my son had a crash, it’s the fault of the other driver.’ Well, it has never been the case for me. It has always been my fault if I had a crash. It was always my fault if the go‑karts didn’t work. I think this mentality helped me to begin with and still today, I’m always looking after a session at what I can improve, what I can do better, because everything is in my hands.” 

Finding the balance at the highest level 

Approaching his career on track in his own way, competing since 2023 in the GT World Challenge for Garage 59, his work off track continues for his family jewellery company APM Monaco, where he has been General Manager since 2024. 

“Combining it with racing at the level I am today is not easy. I don’t see any drivers in the top 10, top 15 or even top 20 in GT World Challenge that do the same thing as me, because I’m competing against factory pro drivers or even silver drivers that want to become pro. They only focus on this, where I don’t focus on that all day.” 

But it doesn’t mean being a factory driver for McLaren isn’t a dream for the current Junior driver.  

“It’s pretty new being in that role. I think that it’s been a couple of years that we speak about it and it got officialized this year, thanks to Giorgio Sanna. Today I just try to show what I can. Am I a junior? No. I’m 28 years old,” he says jokingly before continuing. “My goal is to try and have a factory drive like anyone would like. Do I have the capabilities and the will? Maybe, yes, but once again I will never make it my job, but it would be nice to integrate the factory pool. It’s just to show consistency for me and to show that I can help also on other aspects than the driving.” 

Because motorsport is more than just being fast on track, his role as General Manager and the knowledge he takes with him to the paddock is a unique skillset.  

“I do help a lot in everything which is organization, data, reports. This is something where I do bring a lot to teams. And I think this is also an aspect that manufacturers look out for.” 

Having his eyes set, besides racing, on growing his company doesn’t make it any easier to keep performing on track against the best drivers. 

“It demands a lot of work outside. It means that my days when I’m at the office are very long because I start very early to do sports and I finish very late to do sports; in this championship, you cannot arrive not being prepared, it’s impossible. It took me a few years to understand this because I do the off‑track preparation much more seriously since two years, I would say. Since then the results are really coming, so I see that what I’m doing outside also works. It’s juggling around. I know that when I’m on a racetrack, I only focus on this, which is good. It also permits me to remove the work stress that I have and to be in a sort of bubble.” 

With his company he sponsors various athletes across different sports, one of them being the Leclerc brothers. Having a close relationship with them, he answers the following question about whether he takes any learnings from them on and off track: 

“On track, I wouldn’t say much because I spent more time with Arthur on karting tracks than Charles, because Charles was already at the international level when I was in national and a bit more like Arthur. But I’ve never spent too much time with him on track. Off track, when we speak about Charles, he’s somebody who is very humble, great personality, very approachable. And I think when you’re at his level, in his career, to still be that humble and that approachable is something very nice.” 

Rising above expectations 

Driving in the GT World Challenge Europe this year for Garage 59 in the #58 McLaren 720S GT3 in the Endurance championship next to McLaren factory driver Benjamin Goethe and Junior driver Thomas Flemming, he also competes in the Sprint championship next to the latter. As a Gold Cup entry in both formats, he regularly finds himself fighting against Pro‑rated drivers. To be driving at that level makes him proud, but he stays humble about it.  

“I have so much more to learn. I know that when I’m in a good spot on my own and it’s a track I like, I can match them without any problem. As a team we proved it again in Spa.” 

Because at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa‑Francorchamps the team qualified second overall and were high up for the major part of the race.  

“We were in the top three for 12 hours in a row. Without any luck being in the top three, it was pure pace. I’m proud of it. There’s still room for improvement, obviously, mainly when things don’t go well in the weekend. I know I’m struggling a bit more than these guys, but I also have the chance to work with amazing drivers next to me along the year and to have the support from Stéphane Ortelli since 2019, which makes me who I am today in the car.” 

Elaborating further on what he learned from the ’98 Le Mans winner and three‑time GT World Champion, he says: “He is more on the approach to the weekend, to channelise me a bit when things don’t go right. Obviously, he knows every track in the world and has been there 10,000 times, so when I have doubts, I always check with him.” 

But the 28‑year‑old also learns plenty from his teammates. “With the other drivers, it’s just understanding how they adapt from a session to another and also their physiognomy on setting up the car.” 

At the 24 Hours of Spa the team were running high up and leading the Gold Cup in comfortable fashion before an incident in the night saw them finishing 36th overall and fifth in their category.  

“We were all very gutted about what happened, but in the end I was not angry at all because it’s stuff that can happen. The race was very physically demanding. We were proud of what we showed in Spa. Obviously, the result was not there at the end. It’s a shame because I think without even speaking about the overall podium, a class win was highly feasible and even a top five overall. When you look at who we race against, we were probably not the ones people would have counted on to be in the top three overall.” 

Leading the overall Gold Cup drivers’ standings but trailing by only five points in the team standings, everything still remains open as the businessman, but also racing driver, tells his goals and targets to GT REPORT: 

“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs in the years since 2023 when I joined, but I’m honestly happy with the team. I’m good with this team. Obviously, first of all, is to try and finish the year well and to try and claim a title. Because after four years, that would be nice. For next year, we need to see what’s up for grabs. I don’t see myself leaving McLaren because I’m very well with them. Neither Garage 59, but I don’t really know. If there is a good opportunity, you never know where you can end up.” 

After saying that, he points out another reason why he is in the perfect position right now. “I’m happy where I am because I’m able to balance both things.” 

He rounds off by saying what his dream would be to achieve in racing: 

“Hypercar. LMP2 never excited me at all for some reason, even though I know they’re amazing cars and I enjoyed my time a lot when I did LMP3. But if you give me two possibilities, LMP2 or GT, I will 100% stay in GT. But hypercar is something that is quite exceptional. WEC is an exceptional championship as well; it’s the pinnacle of endurance. So if there’s an opportunity one day to do that, I think it’s fun. Let’s say that that’s what we’re working on and towards too. But in order to get there, it needs to come with results.” 

With that last point he admits he is not quite there yet, but the work continues to strive for it. 

“Today, on pace and on paper, we’ve had some good outings and showings, but we still didn’t manage to finish a championship properly. We need to try and do this first before thinking about something else.”