It was in 1995 {that a} McLaren F1 GTR was pushed to outright victory within the 24 Hours of Le Mans, beating quite a lot of quicker sports activities prototypes and making historical past within the course of.
McLaren would return with the F1 GTR for one more three years, leading to a second place general and a win within the GT1 class within the 1997 race.
Now, 26 years on, McLaren is lastly making its return to the Circuit de la Sarthe, this time with the 720S GT3 Evo. The race automobile shares many parts with the 720S supercar in addition to the present 750S supercar, itself an evolution of the 720S. This contains the carbon-fiber tub and twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 engine.
The V-8 has undergone some modifications for racing, together with restrictors to fulfill Stability of Efficiency guidelines. Right here, the engine can also be paired with a 6-speed sequential transmission as an alternative of the street automobiles’ 7-speed dual-clutch automated. Different key modifications made for racing have been within the areas of aerodynamics and suspension, McLaren mentioned.
2023 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo race automobile
2023 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo race automobile
Three examples of the 720S GT3 Evo will likely be entered on this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, within the LMGT3 class designed for automobiles derived from manufacturing fashions. Two of the automobiles will likely be fielded by United Autosports which is competing within the full 2024 World Endurance Championship season, whose spotlight is the Le Mans race. The third automobile will likely be fielded by Inception Racing.
Confirmed drivers embrace James Cottingham, Nicolas Costa, and Grégoire Saucy within the quantity 59 automobile, a racing quantity shared with the successful F1 GTR in 1995; Hiroshi Hamaguchi, Marino Sato, and Nicolas Pino within the no. 95 automobile, and Brendan Iribe, Ollie Millroy, and Frederik Schandorff within the no. 70 automobile.
Going up in opposition to the McLarens within the LMGT3 class will likely be race automobiles based mostly on the Aston Martin Vantage, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Ferrari 296 GTB, Ford Mustang, Lamborghini Huracán, Lexus RC F, and Porsche 911.
