The McLaren Automotive’s FIA accredited Pure McLaren single-make international series will be landing in Spain next weekend. The beautiful port city of Valencia will be playing host to the second round of the inaugural six-round pan-European series, which is visiting the most iconic tracks across the continent.
Following its first round at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of April, the second round will race through the challenging Circuit Ricardo Tormo. Located in the Hoya de Buñol area, the circuit has a 3.99km layout and 14 corners. Valencia was once the site of the Formula One European Grand Prix but was dropped at the beginning of the 2013 season. The annual MotoGP race is still held at the same circuit though.
This new series is aimed at those McLaren owners, with extensive track driving experience and a minimum of an International D grade license, who are looking to join the racing world. They will be able to ‘arrive and drive’ in a controlled environment, with the support of McLaren motorsport experts the cars maintained and run by their engineers and technicians. The field will comprise of 570S GT4 track cars. These will be tested in 40 minutes practice session on Friday, followed by a 20-minute qualifying session and 30-minute race session on Saturday and Sunday.
There will be two simultaneous contests: The Pure McLaren single-make series and the Bruce McLaren cup. The former is an overall category open to all competitors, while the latter, named after their founder, is for those drivers who have held their license for less than 12 months and have not competed higher than club level in that specific year. There are awards for ‘best qualifier’ or the driver with the most pole positions over the series and for the ‘most improved driver’. In each round, the driver who sets the fastest lap time will receive the ‘Speedy Kiwi’ award.
The McLaren Automotive is a creator of luxury, high performance sportscars and supercars. This new series is an extension of the Pure McLaren series, which is the official driving programme of the company. Most competitors have taken the route of getting professional coaching here and going on to achieve their race license with the help of their Performance Academy, and ultimately, participating in the Pure McLaren one-make series.