McLaren at at Rockingham Motor Speedway: The qualifying sessions on Saturday were extremely promising

Rockingham, 05-May-2016 — /EuropaWire/ — McLaren GT Factory Driver Rob Bell showcased the pace of the 650S GT3 in the British GT Championship round at Rockingham Motor Speedway this weekend, co-qualifying on the front row. In the race, he and teammate Alasdair McCaig steered the #79 Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse McLaren 650S GT3 to P7 in the race for a solid points finish. In only its second ever race, the 570S GT4 showed front-running pace all weekend, qualifying P3 in the class and finishing P5.

The qualifying sessions on Saturday were extremely promising for the cars run by customer team Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse. Bell and McCaig narrowly missed out on pole position by less than a tenth of second, qualifying the 650S GT3 in P2 with a combined time of 2m 33.553s (+0.038s). The 570S GT4, driven by Ciaran Haggerty and Sandy Mitchell, made its second appearance as part of the continued development programme, qualifying P3 in the GT4 class with a 2m 46.300s (+1.212s).

McCaig started strongly in the 650S GT3 holding station in P2. However, the initial strong pace shown throughout qualifying and the opening laps could not be maintained as the race progressed, and Bell took over for the second half of the race in P7. Despite a podium finish out of reach, the experienced Brit fought hard to retain position, securing valuable points for the Championship.

The #59 McLaren 570S GT4 started on the second row of the GT4 class but fought through to take the lead by half distance. After a driver change and returning to the track, the team was forced to give up the lead after being handed a penalty for a pitstop infringement. Despite this setback, the 570S GT4 completed the second development race of the season, crossing the line to secure a solid P5.

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Notes to Editors:

A selection of high resolution images accompanying this release is available to download from the McLaren Automotive media site – cars.mclaren.press.

About McLaren Automotive:

McLaren Automotive is a British manufacturer of luxury, high-performance sports cars, located at the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) in Woking, Surrey.

Following the global launch of McLaren Automotive in 2010, the groundbreaking 12C was launched in 2011, the 12C Spider in 2012, and the limited-run McLaren P1™ went into production in 2013. In keeping with its plan to introduce a new model each year, the company unveiled the 650S, in coupe and Spider form in 2014, and has announced the Sports Series among the models to be introduced in 2015. The brand continues to expand, and McLaren posted a profit during 2013 – only the third year of vehicle production. This was followed in 2014, by a third consecutive year of growth in sales with a record 1,649 vehicles delivered via a dedicated global network of retailers in every major automotive market.

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To support the development, engineering and manufacture of its range of innovative and highly acclaimed sports cars, McLaren Automotive has partnered with world leading companies to provide specialist expertise and technology including, AkzoNobel, ExxonMobil, Pirelli and SAP.

Designed for the track; Developed for the road

The connection between Formula 1 and road cars at McLaren is a natural process of experience, knowledge, principles and process transfer. Through the integration of 50 years of Formula 1™ racing expertise and knowledge, and over 20 years of heritage in producing landmark sports cars, McLaren Automotive designs, develops and builds a range of technologically advanced and groundbreaking high performance sports cars which are designed to be a no compromise drive on both road and track.

McLaren has pioneered the use of carbon fibre in vehicle production over the past 30 years, and since introducing a carbon chassis into racing and road cars with the 1981 McLaren MP4/1 and 1993 McLaren F1 respectively, McLaren has not built a car without a carbon fibre chassis.

Visit cars.mclaren.com for more details.

Further information
Wayne Bruce
Global Communications Director | McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone: +44 (0) 1483 261500
Mobile: +44 (0) 7768 132429
Email: wayne.bruce@mclaren.com

Dave Eden
Global PR Manager | McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone:+44 (0) 1483 262867
Mobile: +44 (0) 7500 857089
Email: dave.eden@mclaren.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/DaveEden

Duncan Forrester
Global Corporate Communications Manager | McLaren Automotive Limited
Phone:+44 (0) 1483 261500
Mobile: +44 (0) 7468 769419
Email: duncan.forrester@mclaren.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/DuncanForrester

Media website: cars.mclaren.press
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Twitter: www.twitter.com/McLarenAuto
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Double top ten finish for McLaren at Rockingham