24h Le Mans
Presented 25 years ago, the first road model McLaren was destined for an extraordinary sporting career, with a win at Le Mans for its first participation in 1995. Its engine, designed by BMW, even got a second wind...and a second victory in 1999.
After the win for the McLaren F1 GTR driven by Yannick Dalmas, J.J. Lehto and Masanori Sekiya in 1995, BMW amped up its involvement with the British GT. First with one of its partner teams in Touring, Team Bigazzi (1996), then directly under the banner of BMW Motorsport in 1997, with a third place finish as result.
In 1998, BMW moved into prototypes with two cars powered by the 6-liter V12 6 aspirated engine designed for the McLaren F1. "That car was, after the BMW M1, the second supercar with which our marque was involved, and its engine remained a reference point for us the ensuing five years," confirms Mario Theissen, Head of BMW Motorsport from 1999 to 2011. "The engine proved highly competitive in 1995, as it did in 1996 and 1997. So we were able to build a prototype around it."
As a result of two retirements at Le Mans in 1998, the prototype was majorly overhauled for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, and renamed the BMW V12 LMR. After leading for quite some time, the car driven by J.J. Lehto-Tom Kristensen-Jörg Müller was derailed by an incident, and the one driven by Yannick Dalmas-Joachim Winkelhock-Pierluigi Martini picked up the slack. "In 1999, the BMW engineers did incredible work, with a powerful engine. It allowed us to gain a lap on our rivals, thanks to a considerable decrease in fuel consumption," recalls Yannick Dalmas.
Already a winner with Peugeot (1992) and Dauer-Porsche (1994), the French driver won his last two 24 Hours of Le Mans victories with a BMW engine, first in the McLaren F1 GTR, then in the BMW V12 LMR.
Click below for previous installments in this series:
The McLaren F1 GTR at Le Mans (1) - Key dates 1995-1998
The McLaren F1 GTR at Le Mans (2) - Driver stories 1995-1998
Photo: One year before moving into prototypes (with a victory in 1999), BMW claimed the third step on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1996 with the F1 GTR driven by Peter Kox, Roberto Ravaglia and Eric Helary, entered officially by the Bavarian manufacturer. Seen in this photo is the significantly modified portion of the car for 1997 and 1998.
