Mika Häkkinen To Race A McLaren 720S GT3 In Suzuka 10 Hours

Two-time F1 world champion Mika Häkkinen is returning to action later this year, as he will sit behind the wheel of a McLaren 720S GT3 in the 10 Hours of Suzuka race.

Häkkinen will return to the Suzuka track 20 years after winning his second Formula 1 championship with McLaren.

The ‘Flying Finn’ will race a customer 720S GT3 alongside two-time Super Formula champion Hiroaki Ishiura and Japanese Formula 3 racer Katsuaki Kubota. Suzuka 10 Hours is the fourth round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge and will take place on August 23 to 25.

Häkkinen, who won two consecutive Formula 1 titles with McLaren in 1998 and 1999, was reunited with his championship-winning MP4/13 car last year, driving many demonstration laps at the Japanese Grand Prix to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his first title.

The new 720S GT3 has only just begun making its competitive debut in the 2019 season at the hands of customer teams in championships worldwide. The new British race car has already achieved its first pole position and victory during the debut race on the Intercontinental GT Challenge in Australia.

McLaren has changed over 90 percent of the road-going 720S model’s components for the new GT3 race car; the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 has also received the proper-for-racing modifications and is now linked to a six-speed sequential transmission instead of the seven-speed dual-clutch unit.