‘Mclaren one-make series planned’
Plans still in early stages but new car has received significant interest
Mclaren Automotive and Mclaren GT, which develops the manufacturer’s racing cars, have both confirmed that the idea of a one-make series has been floated.
Their admission follows Mclaren Group boss Ron Dennis’s revelation in an exclusive interview in F1 Racing that such a championship was on the cards.
“Mclaren Automotive will continue to mature and diversify, introducing more bespoke car customisation programmes and probably a one-make racing series of some kind,” said Dennis.
Mclaren GT managing director Andrew Kirkaldy stressed that plans for such a series were still at a formative stage.
“It is something we have talked about,” he explained. “We’ve built the GT4 car and we’re thinking that it would be a good base for a one-make series, and also that something like that would be a good thing to do.
“But that’s as far as it has gone right now. There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge before we can firm anything up.”
He added that it was too early to talk about where the series would run and when it might start.
Paul Mackenzie, director of special operations at Mclaren Automotive, explained that discussions about a onemake series were part of a wide-ranging review of its motorsport strategy.
“We understand the broad benefits of being involved in motorsport and are looking how to maximise that in the future,” he said.
The 570S GT4 was launched in March and a development car is being raced by Mclaren GT’S in-house team, known as Garage 59, under the Ecurie Ecosse banner in this year’s British GT Championship.
The order book for customer GT4S has yet to be opened, but Kirkaldy revealed that enquiries from potential buyers numbered “well over 200”. The 562bhp racer will retail for approximately £160,000, less than half the price of the 650S GT3.
The only previous one-make series for a car designed and built by Mclaren took place in 2008. The final version of the Mercedes-benz SLR Mclaren, a joint venture between the two manufacturers, was developed for racing by Ray Mallock Limited.
RML centrally ran the fleet of Merc Mclaren 722 GTS and a total of seven events in Europe were run to a pro-am format. Guest drivers who took part included Jean Alesi, Jochen Mass and Bruno Senna.