Martin Edward Berry (born 9 June 1977 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

businessman and racing driver competing for

Iron Lynx Iron Lynx Motorsport Lab is an Italian auto racing team founded by Andrea Piccini, Deborah Mayer, Claudio Schiavoni and Sergio Pianezzola. The team is based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. They primarily participate in sports car racing, and are a sis ...

in the LMGT3 class of the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

and the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

. 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 The Le Mans Cup, previously the GT3 Le Mans Cup and currently known as the Michelin Le Mans Cup under sponsorship, is an international sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club ...

race winner.

Business career

Berry initially worked for Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore and later South Korea, but left the company in late 2012 to estabilish Gong Cha Korea. Five years later, Berry bought the main company and founded Gong Cha Global, as he expanded the company's operations abroad as its chairman. Berry is also the founder of Launcho Ventures and BeMe Wellness.

Racing career

Berry made his racing debut in 2017, by competing in the Trofeo Pirelli 458 class of the Ferrari Challenge Asia-Pacific series. 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. Returning to Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific for 2018, Berry finished fifth in the Trofeo Pirelli Am class. 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 Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located in Austin, Texas, United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand Pr ...

, before joining Absolute Racing for the last round of the Audi R8 LMS Cup at

Sepang Pekan Sepang is a small border town and also a mukim in Sepang District, Selangor Selangor ( ; ), also known by the Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on t ...

, finishing fifth and eighth in the two races. Berry transitioned over to Europe for 2019, joining Rinaldi Racing to compete in the Am class of the

Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports Gr ...

alongside Pierre Ehret, José Manuel Balbiani and Rory Penttinen. In his only season in the championship, Berry scored a class podium at

Paul Ricard Paul Louis Marius Ricard (; July 9, 1909 – November 7, 1997) was a French industrialist and creator of an eponymous pastis brand which merged in 1975 with its competitor Pernod to create Pernod Ricard. Ricard was also an environmentalist and t ...

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, whilst also making one-off appearances for Car Collection Motorsport and

Toksport WRT Toksport WRT is a motorsport preparation and race team based at the Nürburgring in Quiddelbach, Germany. The team has prepared cars for, and entered events in 26 motorsport championships around the globe and has won notable Fédération Interna ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

and

respectively. In 2020, Berry was set to compete with

Optimum Motorsport Optimum Motorsport is a British sports car racing team based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire that primarily competes with Ginetta and McLaren GT cars. Optimum also race under the Inception Racing banner with Ferrari. Their record includes champi ...

in both the

British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports G ...

and

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by Stéphane Ratel Or ...

, but both deals fell through, leaving Berry on the sidelines as he was stuck in Singapore. After spending two years out of racing, Berry entered the ST-X class of the

2022 Super Taikyu Series The 2022 Eneos Super Taikyu Series Powered by Hankook was the thirty-second season of the Super Taikyu Series endurance racing championship. The season started on 20 March and ended on 27 November at Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka Ci ...

with his team, Grid Motorsport alongside

Haruki Kurosawa is a Japanese people, Japanese racing driver. He is the 2018 Super GT Series, 2018 Super GT – GT300 champion, having won it with LEON Racing, where he currently serves as its team director. Early career Kurosawa took up motorcycle racing at ...

Shinichi Takagi is a Japanese professional racing driver. He won the GT300 class Super GT championship in 2002 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, 2002 and 2019 Super GT Series, 2019. Career Takagi made his debut in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Cha ...

, Daisuke Yamawaki and later

Shaun Thong Wei Fung Shaun Thong 唐偉楓 (Born 1 November 1995 in Hong Kong, China) is a racecar driver from Hong Kong. Born in 1995, He is the 2017 Blancpain GT Series Asia Silver Cup champion and the 2020 Super Taikyu Series Champion. Thong is the fir ...

. Competing in all but one races for his team, Berry took pole for the

Fuji 24 Hours The Fuji Super TEC 24 Hour Race, also known as the NAPAC Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour Grand tourer, GT, Touring car racing, touring car, and production sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held ...

on debut and finished second in the longest race of the season, before winning at Sugo and Motegi on his way to second in the ST-X points. Berry made his return to GT3 competition in 2023, joining Bullitt Racing to compete in the

Asian Le Mans Series The Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based in Asia. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second s ...

alongside Aston Martin juniors Jacob Riegel and Valentin Hasse-Clot. After taking a best result of 13th in the season-ending race at Yas Marina, Berry joined JMW Motorsport to compete in the

' LMGTE class alongside

Lorcan Hanafin Lorcan Hanafin (born 6 December 2002) is a British racing driver who is currently competing in the 2025 European Le Mans Series for Iron Lynx in the LMGT3 class, he is the runner up of the 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain. Hanafin was als ...

and

Jon Lancaster Jon Francis Lancaster (born 10 December 1988 in Leeds) is a British auto racing driver. Career Early life and karting Lancaster was born on 10 December 1988 in Leeds, Yorkshire. He used to watch Formula One from the age of three and always li ...

, driving a Ferrari 488 GTE Evo on his European return. In the six-race season, Berry took pole on debut and finished third in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, before taking another pole at

Aragón Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to south): Huesca, Zaragoza, a ...

and finishing sixth in the standings with two more top fives to his name. Staying in the

for 2024 in the rebranded GT3 class, Berry joined Grid Motorsport by TF alongside Hanafin and

Jonathan Adam Jonathan Robert "Jonny" Adam (born 4 September 1984 in Lochgelly, Fife) is a British racing driver and a factory driver for Aston Martin Racing. He was the champion of the SEAT Cupra Championship in two of its six seasons – winning in 2007 and ...

, switching to an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo for his sophomore season in the series. In the penultimate round at

Mugello The Mugello () is a historic region and valley in northern Tuscany, Italy, corresponding to the course of the River Sieve. It is located to the north of the city of Florence and includes the northernmost portion of the Metropolitan City of Fl ...

, Berry scored his lone podium of the season by finishing second, which contributed to his seventh place in the standings at season's end. 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 The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

' support bill, Berry finished tenth in race one and won race two. Berry remained in the now-LMGT3 class of the

for 2025, switching to

for his third season in the series as the team switched from

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. ( , ), usually referred to as Lamborghini or colloquially Lambo, is an Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its su ...

Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG (Aufrecht, Melcher, Großaspach), is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz AG. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG v ...

. Alongside his ELMS commitments, Berry also joined EBM to race in

GT World Challenge Asia The GT World Challenge Asia (formerly Blancpain GT Series Asia and Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia) is a Grand tourer, GT series motor racing competition promoted by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation and organized by Team Asia One GT Management. ...

. During 2025, Berry also made his debut in the

as he replaced

Christian Ried Christian Ried (born 24 February 1979) is a German former racing driver and the team principal of Proton Competition. He last competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship, racing for Iron Lynx in the #61 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Career Ried's fathe ...

ahead of the

6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (formerly the 1000 Kilometres of Spa-Francorchamps) is an endurance race for sports cars held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. History The Spa 24 Hours had been introduced in 1924, and other races f ...

Personal life

Berry is married to Gong Cha Korea co-founder Kim Yeo-jin, with whom he has one son, Joshua, who currently competes in the

Formula 4 South East Asia Championship The Formula 4 South East Asia Championship is a formula racing series run to Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA Formula 4 regulations. The inaugural season was held over 2016-17 Formula 4 South East Asia Championship, 2016 and 2017. ...

for

BlackArts Racing Team BlackArts Racing Team (BAR) is a Chinese motor racing team that was formed in January, 2015. Its main operational headquarters is located within the Zhuhai International Circuit, in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province bordering Macau. The teams business o ...

Racing record

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Martin 1977 births Living people 24H Series drivers Iron Lynx drivers Racing drivers from Melbourne Racing drivers from Victoria (state) Ferrari Challenge drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Le Mans Cup drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers TF Sport drivers Toksport WRT drivers