McLaren confirms Le Mans GT intent

McLaren has confirmed that it intends to build a GT car to race at the Le Mans 24 hours in 2016. The company which won the 1995 race with its F1 model will build a car for the race if the on going GT convergence (where GTE and GT3 are merged) delivers a suitable result. “We would like GT plus as soon as possible" Martin Whitmarsh, CEO of McLaren Racing told Racecar Engineering.

“We took the view that given the GT convergence, why would people buy GTE cars. We will wait for the GT convergence process to conclude and for 2016 we hope to be there. We believe GT is important to our pedigree, important to our brand and we like doing it."

McLaren had actually constructed a GTE specification MP4-12C to contest the WEC, ALMS and other series using the ACO GT rules, but the GT convergence plan meant the company pulled the plug on the project after spending £1 million on engine development alone. It had already secured 10 orders for the GTE specification car.