McLaren P1 LM guns for Nürburgring lap record

The road-legal LM version of the McLaren P1 GTR is set to go for a Nürburgring lap record attempt during a stint of development testing planned for later this year.

Lanzante, the Hampshire-based firm responsible for creating the road-legal LM versions of McLaren’s 986bhp track model, will run the car at the Nürburgring to finalise its set-up. Lanzante says a lap record isn’t a priority, but if the conditions are right, an attempt is a possibility.

“We’ve seen what the road car is capable of there and we’ve got simulations of what our car can do,” said company boss Dean Lanzante. “Kenny Bräck is doing all of the driving, so if an opportunity arose, we have the right man for the job.”

McLaren declined to reveal the Nürburgring lap time of its standard P1, instead choosing only to confirm that it dipped below the seven-minute mark. But Lanzante’s words suggest he’s confident the P1 LM is capable of beating the 6min 57sec time of the current production lap record holder, the Porsche 918 Spyder.

Despite his confidence, Lanzante concedes that the P1 LM’s chances could be hampered by time constraints and weather conditions.

“We don’t have the finances or the time to do something like Porsche,” he said in reference to the 918’s testing programme. “If it rains, the track isn’t fast enough, so we can’t do a lap. And we don’t want to do a Koenigsegg…”

Koenigsegg recently crashed a One:1 at the ’Ring ahead of its own record attempt and has to rebuild the car before it can run again. Lanzante says his company can’t afford the same fate, instead ranking delivery of all five P1 LMs to their customers as a priority.

Each P1 LM could receive minor changes to its factory settings after delivery, including the fitment of ‘evolution’ parts or minor geometry adjustments.

“Whatever upgrades we develop in testing, we give to the customer,” Lanzante said. “It’s part of the package; they don’t pay for that.”