Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Martin Berry
Australian racing driver (born 1977) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Martin Edward Berry[1] (born 9 June 1977 in Melbourne) is an Australian businessman and racing driver competing for Iron Lynx in the LMGT3 class of the European Le Mans Series and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Born in Melbourne, Berry moved to South Korea during his time as a Banker before founding Gong Cha Korea in 2012 and buying Gong Cha outright in 2017 to expand it worldwide. During Gong Cha's global expansion, Berry relocated to Singapore and began his racing career the same year. Racing with a Singaporean licence since then, Berry won the Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific series in the Trofeo Pirelli 458 class in 2017 and is a Michelin Le Mans Cup race winner.
Remove ads
Business career
Berry initially worked for Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore and later South Korea,[2] but left the company in late 2012 to estabilish Gong Cha Korea.[3] Five years later, Berry bought the main company and founded Gong Cha Global, as he expanded the company's operations abroad as its chairman.[4] Berry is also the founder of Launcho Ventures and BeMe Wellness.[5][6]
Racing career
Summarize
Perspective
Berry made his racing debut in 2017, by competing in the Trofeo Pirelli 458 class of the Ferrari Challenge Asia-Pacific series.[7] After winning ten out of the 13 races contested, Berry clinched the title two rounds early and also was runner-up in the same class, at that year's Finali Mondiali.[8][9]
Returning to Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific for 2018, Berry finished fifth in the Trofeo Pirelli Am class.[10] At the end of 2018, Berry made a one-off outing in the 24H GT Series for HB Racing at the final round of the season at Circuit of the Americas,[11] before joining Absolute Racing for the last round of the Audi R8 LMS Cup at Sepang,[12] finishing fifth and eighth in the two races.[13][14]
Berry transitioned over to Europe for 2019, joining Rinaldi Racing to compete in the Am class of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup alongside Pierre Ehret, José Manuel Balbiani and Rory Penttinen.[15] In his only season in the championship, Berry scored a class podium at Paul Ricard and finished seventh in the Am standings. During 2019, Berry also returned to the 24H GT Series, competing for Rinaldi Racing in the Mugello and Spa rounds,[16] whilst also making one-off appearances for Car Collection Motorsport and Toksport WRT at Dubai and Circuit of the Americas respectively.[17]
In 2020, Berry was set to compete with Optimum Motorsport in both the British GT Championship and GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup,[18][19] but both deals fell through, leaving Berry on the sidelines as he was stuck in Singapore.[20]
After spending two years out of racing, Berry entered the ST-X class of the 2022 Super Taikyu Series with his team, Grid Motorsport alongside Haruki Kurosawa, Shinichi Takagi, Daisuke Yamawaki and later Shaun Thong.[21] Competing in all but one races for his team, Berry took pole for the Fuji 24 Hours on debut and finished second in the longest race of the season,[22][23] before winning at Sugo and Motegi on his way to second in the ST-X points.[24][25]
Berry made his return to GT3 competition in 2023, joining Bullitt Racing to compete in the Asian Le Mans Series alongside Aston Martin juniors Jacob Riegel and Valentin Hasse-Clot.[26] After taking a best result of 13th in the season-ending race at Yas Marina,[27] Berry joined JMW Motorsport to compete in the European Le Mans Series' LMGTE class alongside Lorcan Hanafin and Jon Lancaster, driving a Ferrari 488 GTE Evo on his European return.[28] In the six-race season, Berry took pole on debut and finished third in Barcelona,[29][30] before taking another pole at Aragón and finishing sixth in the standings with two more top fives to his name.[31]
Staying in the European Le Mans Series for 2024 in the rebranded GT3 class, Berry joined Grid Motorsport by TF alongside Hanafin and Jonathan Adam, switching to an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo for his sophomore season in the series.[32] In the penultimate round at Mugello, Berry scored his lone podium of the season by finishing second, which contributed to his seventh place in the standings at season's end.[33] During 2024, Berry also competed in the Road to Le Mans alongside Hanafin in the GT3 class for Blackthorn. In the two races on the 24 Hours of Le Mans' support bill, Berry finished tenth in race one and won race two.[34]
Berry remained in the now-LMGT3 class of the European Le Mans Series for 2025, switching to Iron Lynx for his third season in the series as the team switched from Lamborghini to Mercedes-AMG.[35] Alongside his ELMS commitments, Berry also joined EBM to race in GT World Challenge Asia.[36] During 2025, Berry also made his debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship as he replaced Christian Ried ahead of the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.[37]
Remove ads
Personal life
Berry is married to Gong Cha Korea co-founder Kim Yeo-jin,[38] with whom he has one son, Joshua, who currently competes in the Formula 4 South East Asia Championship for BlackArts Racing Team.[39]
Racing record
Summarize
Perspective
Racing career summary
Complete GT World Challenge Europe results
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
Complete Asian Le Mans Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete European Le Mans Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete GT World Challenge Asia results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
* Season still in progress.
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Remove ads
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads