Le Mans Cup triumph drives Singaporean endurance racer Danial Frost towards bigger dreams

SINGAPORE – On the same weekend Max Verstappen made racing history by winning the Singapore Grand Prix for the first time in 2026, a milestone for local motor sports was created nearly 12,000km away on Oct 10.

In the Portuguese coastal city of Portimao, Singaporean race car driver Danial Frost hoisted the LMP3 Michelin Le Mans Cup above his head, becoming the first non-European driver to triumph in the series since it was created in 2016.

Frost, 25, and French teammate Enzo Peugeot, 20, who race for R-ace GP, took the chequered flag in the race in Portugal which wrapped up the 2026 season. Their win meant that they had won half of the series’ six races.

They had also won in Catalunya, Spain, in April and Spa, Belgium, in August.

“It feels amazing, I’m over the moon,” said a beaming Frost in a recent Zoom interview with The Straits Times.

“I’m glad that I’m writing history for Singapore and it’s a good feeling, especially, beating the European guys on their home turf. It’s definitely a moment to remember.”

The two-driver Le Mans Cup was conceived in 2016 by the organisers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the prestigious endurance racing series that first took place more than 100 years ago, as a stepping stone for up-and-coming drivers.

Rapid early rise

For Frost, his milestone achievement arrived after racing for nearly half his life, having first placed his hands behind the wheel of a go-kart when he was 13, at the now-defunct KF1 Karting Circuit in Kranji.

Within two years, he was racing in single-seaters in Formula 4 South-east Asia, where he placed fifth overall in 2016.

Eager to take his racing even further, he boldly sought to move abroad. After weighing between competing in Super Formula in Japan or IndyCar in the United States, Frost decided the latter was the better option because of its scholarship programme.

He signed with the Meritus.GP racing team and moved to Florida in 2017, aged 16, with his mother, Melor Ismail.

There, he progressed to racing in Indy Pro from 2019 to 2020. He finished third in the 2020 championship and went to Indy Lights, now rebranded as Indy NXT, where he stayed from 2021 to 2023.

Michael Duncalfe, team principal of racing team and development programme Exclusive Autosport, said of Frost’s talent in 2019: “Danial never fails to impress... He has developed into a triple-threat driver as he has demonstrated that he has the ability and raw talent to win on ovals (circuits), street courses and top time sheets on natural terrain road courses.”

Frost’s burgeoning career, however, screeched to a temporary halt for nearly two years from January 2024, as he returned to Singapore to do his national service (NS).

“In the racing world, two years is an eternity,” he said.

While his rivals were continuing to race, Frost admitted he felt like he was “losing momentum” and “falling behind”.

Despite this, he was not ready to give up on his ambitions. Instead, he “adapted and looked for possibilities to stay in the motor sport scene”.

From doing simulator work to finding opportunities to race, Frost managed to continue racing in GT World Challenge Asia and the Asian Le Mans Series, even using up his annual leave to compete.

The highlight of his return to Singapore was racing at the Marina Bay Street Circuit for the 2025 Porsche Carrera Cup Asia season finale – held in the lead-up to that year’s Singapore Grand Prix – as a guest driver.

He finished sixth and eighth, respectively, in two races among a field of 28 drivers.

“It was so nice that I was able to race on my home turf – my own country,” said Frost, who is bilingual in English and Malay.

“The feeling of seeing my own people being there and cheering me on... I tried to give everything I had because the atmosphere was there and I knew I had them watching my back.”

After completing NS, an opportunity came for Frost to sign for R-ace GP – who had also won the 2025 LMP3 Le Mans Cup. He did not hesitate, as it gave him a platform to reintroduce himself to the racing world. And he made the most of it, despite it being his first time racing in Europe.

“Winning (the Le Mans Cup 2026) championship,” he explained, “showed that I never lost it, even though I wasn’t in the scene for two years.”

24 Hours of Le Mans or IndyCar next?

Frost, who attended Pei Tong Primary School in Singapore and Marlborough College Malaysia in Johor before moving to the US, has resided in Florida for most of the last 10 years, but still yearns for home comforts from time to time.

He confesses he makes special requests to his mum to cook local dishes like chicken rice if he feels a craving, even if he does satiate his palate on his annual trips back to see friends and family.

Not having easy access to dishes from home is a small discomfort he is willing to live with as he plots his next step in the motor racing world.

It would be a “dream come true” to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2027, he said, although he is more likely to compete one rung lower at LMP2, which is one rung higher than LMP3 on the endurance racing ladder.

His other ultimate goal is to race in IndyCar – the highest level of open-wheel auto racing in the US – in 2028.

Noting that funding remains an “important part of progressing in motor sport”, Frost said he has only recently begun exploring opportunities with Singapore companies and is close to sealing a partnership with one, though he did not name the company.

He also spelt out his gratitude to Singapore-based company Den-Jet Marine – which specialises in high-pressure water-blasting equipment for marine and offshore industries – for its backing, saying it has been behind him “from the very start”.

“They’ve helped me a lot and I would say they’re the reason why I’m still here racing,” he said.

He added: “I do hope my recent Le Mans Cup win will help raise my profile and open doors to meaningful partnerships with Singapore companies and investors, allowing me to continue pursuing my racing ambitions while representing Singapore on the international stage.”

Perhaps it is fitting that Frost is an endurance driver, for his chosen format of racing implies the requirements of tenacity, perseverance and staying power, all of which he has demonstrated thus far as he works towards his IndyCar aspiration.

“Behind this dream,” he said, “is something deeply personal.

“I want to show that my family’s sacrifices were not in vain, and to prove that Singaporean drivers can compete on the biggest stages of international motor sport. Not because the road was paved for me, but because I fought for every opportunity.

“And if that day eventually comes, it will not simply be the story of a driver who made it. It will be the story of a Singaporean who kept going when very few people were watching.”