On the eve of the opening British GT Championship round at Oulton Park, McLaren Automotive has confirmed the extension of the official Safety Car partnership with the SRO-managed series. Throughout the season, a variety of models from the McLaren Sports Series will manage on-track safety and coordination of the bumper grid of GT cars, which will include six examples of the 570S GT4. The debut outing for the 2017 season will see the 540C Coupé lead the grid.
The Safety Car role is truly fitting for a McLaren. As with every model produced for road or track since 1981, safety is a key attribute with a carbon fibre chassis at the heart of each Sports Series model. The 540C Coupé, 570S Coupé, 570GT and the 570S GT4 share the lightweight MonoCell II, providing the highest levels of occupant safety.
Leading the field at each of the nine rounds over seven race weekends, the Sports Series Safety Car marks the seventh McLaren confirmed for what is shaping up to be one of the most fiercely-contested British GT championships in its 25-year history. Ciaran Haggerty and Sandy Mitchell return to the championship after completing the final stages of development throughout the 2016 season with the track-focused Sports Series model, joined for 2017 by Dean Macdonald and Akhil Rabindra as fellow GT Academy Drivers with customer team Black Bull Garage 59. McLaren Automotive test driver Gareth Howell will make his British GT championship debut in one of a pair of entries by In2 Racing, while Tolman Motorsport and track-club are confirmed with one example of the 570S GT4 each.
