The McLaren Artura GT4 proved to be the class of the GT4 field at Oulton Park, taking two pole positions and locking out the podium in the second race of the British GT Championship season-opening weekend on April 8/10.
Having made its debut in the Daytona 24-Hour-supporting IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge in the USA earlier this year, the Artura GT4 excelled on the challenging Oulton Park circuit to take its first pole position with Optimum Motorsport. Drivers Jack Brown and Charles Clark dominated each of their qualifying sessions for the two 1-hour races.
A mid-race safety car wiped out their advantage in the opening race but the second, which took place in soaking wet conditions, played to the Artura’s strengths. Race Lab’s Ian Gough and Tom Wrigley took the lead, heading Optimum Motorsport’s Brown/Clark and DTO Motorsport’s Josh Rowledge and new McLaren Academy Driver Aston Millar to complete a 1-2-3 finish.
The result topped a strong weekend for McLaren, in which 15 of the 36-car entry represented the marque. In addition, Enduro Motorsport’s Morgan Tillbrook and Marcus Clutton, and Garage 59’s line-up of Alex West and McLaren Factory Driver Marvin Kirchhofer claimed podium finishes in the GT3 class in their 720S GT3 cars.
The Artura GT4 shares its 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 engine and McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA) chassis with the Artura road car. This gives it a superlight and rigid platform for the GT4 class, and the car has been developed and prepared by McLaren Motorsport to be extremely accessible to both amateur drivers and race mechanics.
“This has been a tremendous result for the Artura GT4 in its debut season and my congratulations to Race Lab, Optimum Motorsport and DTO Motorsport for a fantastic achievement to commence the British GT Championship season. In addition, the superb efforts of Enduro Motorsport and Garage 59 completed a great weekend, in which we were proud to support 15 of the 36 cars entered.
Ian Morgan, Director of Motorsport, McLaren Automotive
