With the half-season mark now behind us, the McLaren 650S run by Teo Martín Motorsport and driven by Miguel Ramos-Álvaro Parente is leading the overall standings of the International GT Open, although by a narrow margin of 4 points. It’s a significant achievement for the Madrid-based squad in its come-back to top-level Racing after almost two decades of absence. Good time then to chat with Teo Martín himself, a successful Automotive entrepreneur (concretely, in the recycling and ELV industry) and a passionate collector that could not resist the call of real racing…

 What’s your assessment of the season so far?

“Very positive. It has been months of intense and hard work, but we are extremely happy with the results and how things are going. There is a close fight with the AF Corse Ferraris, we are very close in the championship, and we will have a very exciting end of the season, where we will give our best to clinch the title.”

The team seems to work well and to have come to grips perfectly with the new McLaren 650S…

“Yes, I think we have reached a good level of competiveness, although you can always improve things. Taking into account that we started from a white sheet of a paper mid-January and we had to rebuild a racing team after 19 years of absence from motorsports, we can be satisfied. It has been a constant race since January, but we made it. The new McLaren is performing very well and we have good cooperation with Woking. It’s a car with excellent handling and aerodynamics, simpler and easier to run tan the previous one. The engine is good too, although this is probably the area where the Ferraris are ahead, certainly on tracks with slower corners before the straights. In such case, we have seen they have much better top speed. It’s something to watch in Monza and Barcelona, for sure.”

What about your driver pair? Miguel Ramos and Álvaro Parente are certainly a nice duo to have…

“For sure, it’s a blessing to work with two drivers of this calibre, professionally and personally. Being a McLaren works driver and having contributed to the development of the 650S, Álvaro know the car inside-out and is really able to extract the quintessence out of it. Miguel is a very intelligent person, who analyzes and works a lot, he’s doing a tremendous job. I know him since the ‘90s, when he raced for us, and I had a very high opinion of him and only good memories, so when we started talking and we saw there was the opportunity to work together again, I did not hesitate for a second.”

What about the GT Open, how you see the series?

“Really, it is a very competitive championship, perfect for us and with an excellent organization. See how closely-fought the championship is the year, this is a proof of its level. I am convinced that next year, as a new generation of GT cars will arrive to the market, the series is going to be even more competitive and crowded. We will be there, and certainly with two cars.”

Does your come-back to Racing mean that the virus never dies?

“Well, I guess you can say so [laughs]. For me, it’s an immense satisfaction to go back to Racing and do it properly, in a professional way. That’s how I like to do things. We have a new team that combines the experience of people that were with us in a previous racing life with the youth of a bunch of new guys, very eager to learn and grow. I am a very meticulous guy, demanding a lot from everyone, some time I may seem hard, but I know that later, they will be grateful for that, because it is the only way to go upwards…”