McLaren claims it is satisfied with the performance of its new MP4-12C GT3 racer, which entered a 24-hour race for the first time last weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. And this despite the fact that from the three cars entered, two factory models retired early and only one run by customer team VonRyan Racing, managed to cross the finishing line.
Car number 59, with project manager Andrew Kirkaldy behind the wheel, came into contact early in the race with another car and as a result hit the wall at Turn 1. Kirkaldy was cleared from the hospital without any injuries.
“The impact was significant. If anything positive can be drawn, it’s that we are delighted to be using the 12C road car’s carbon ‘MonoCell’ chassis in our race car,” said Kirkaldy. “It proved here that it is an incredibly robust safety cell for the driver. Just a few hours after the incident, I was back at the circuit with the team.”
The team retired car number 58 voluntarily after what was described as a “thermal incident”. Tim Mullen, who was driving at the time, said that there was a small fire but it was unrelated to any major mechanical failure. The cause of the incident will be investigated by McLaren after the car is returned to the UK.
Finally, car number 60 finished its endurance debut, achieving a very impressive time of 2:23.214 with Adam Christodoulou driving on lap 256.
Chris Goodwin, McLaren GT executive and Chief Test Driver, commented: “The performance of the 12C GT3 and its drivers in car 60 was pleasing. Feedback from the team’s engineers and drivers indicates that the 12C GT3 is meeting its reliability and driveability targets”.
The next step in the MP4-12C GT3’s development phase will be at the Blancpain Endurance Series races at Magny-Cours and Silverstone later this year.
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