Blancpain Endurance
Bell, Sims and Parente join McLaren GT for 2012
McLaren GT is building on its successful 2011 development programme for the new MP4-12C GT3 by adding Britons Rob Bell and Alexander Sims to its driver line-up for 2012. Bell and Sims will join Portuguese racing driver Alvaro Parente at McLaren GT, with each driver available to teams racing the stunning new MP4-12C GT3 in 2012.
Rob Bell said: “I’m very excited to be joining McLaren GT and the opportunity to drive the new 12C GT3 in its first full season of racing. When I was invited to drive the car last year at Spa, I welcomed the chance to sample this new British racer. As I anticipated from a company which is synonymous with cutting edge technology and a dedication to success, the car lived up to its expectations. It delivered the speed and showed the performance potential necessary to win in the highly competitive environment of sportscar racing. I’m looking forward to contributing to further development of the car with a customer team when we take to the track at the start of this season.”
Alexander Sims won the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award in 2008, and joins McLaren GT following a successful period in his career racing single seaters. Sims said: “I’m really looking forward to the forthcoming season with McLaren GT and the opportunity to race the MP4-12C GT3. I am delighted McLaren continue to support young drivers in their careers and I’m proud to join the likes of Rob and Alvaro on the driver programme for 2012.”
The 12C GT3 is a unique technical concept in sportscar racing. It features McLaren’s one-piece moulded carbon MonoCell chassis and technology normally reserved for Formula 1 race cars. The 12C GT3 has been specified and developed by a team comprising senior personnel from McLaren Racing, McLaren Automotive and successful GT car race team CRS Racing.
McLaren Racing Chief Vehicle Engineer Mark Williams has been at the forefront of technical development of the 12C GT3. Williams said: “Since the 12C GT3 development programme began in March, we have entered endurance races all over Europe and more recently in Macau. We have undertaken independent 24 hour tests at some of Europe’s most challenging circuits, and experienced some real highs and of course, had to deal with a number of challenges.
“The 12C GT3 qualified in pole position in the British GT Championship race in Spa in July. We returned to Spa for this season’s 24 hour event and had a car complete the race at its first attempt. That is remarkable and was a good indication that core technologies were proving efficient and reliable in racing. More recently, Danny Watts secured third place in the Macau GT Cup. We’re really proud of these achievements.
“In the last month the McLaren GT team of engineers, technicians and test drivers have been concentrating on refining the calibration of vehicle electronics during tests in Portugal, Spain and Germany. We are very close to the finished article now and I am looking forward to seeing our race cars at the front of the grid in 2012.”
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This McLaren program is one of the coolest things to happen in GT sports car racing -ever.
What makes the mclaren cooler than an Audi GT3 or a Ferrari GT3?
McLaren is just late to the party, and the show would have gone on without them.
They’ve opted to have Lewis Hamilton test the cars to give them some star power and quickly win over fans. Apparently it’s working.
The coolest thing in GT (in my humble opinion) is the ALMS GT class.
The only cooler thing that that will be the GT1 championship using GT3 spec cars. That will create a very large diversity of up to date cars.
If they give the cars GT1 caliber speeds (which they should), in the hands of professional drivers that should make for a really good show.
Only thing is that since there’s no official corvette GT3 car, privateer offerings might not be competitive.
But how was mclaren able to pry Rob Bell away from dunlop? It must have been a really good deal for him. Customer teams will be bidding for him.
I’m also not sure if that’s such a “cool” thing.
McLaren promotes its GT activities very well, including now hiring “works drivers” comparable to the Porsche method of “spreading” their official drivers to private teams buying and racing their GT cars. But until now the McLaren has failed to prove reliability and performance (see 24h Spa 2011) – I would be positively surprised if that changes in 2012. Until now I prefer the concept done by AMG – they really make sure that every customer gets a reliable, well-performing and easy-to-use (don’t forget this last aspect for GT racing!) Mercedes SLS GT car.