The GMA Le Mans GTR XP1 made its global dynamic debut at the 2026 Le Mans Classic, driven by Dario Franchitti down the Mulsanne Straight and through the Porsche CurvesPowered by a naturally aspirated 4.0-litre Cosworth V12 producing 654 hp and revving to 12,100 rpm, it was described as producing a soundtrack unlike anything else at the eventOnly 24 examples will be built, all already sold, with customer deliveries scheduled to begin in 2027 There is something fitting about a car called the Le Mans GTR making its dynamic debut at Le Mans. Not at a test track in England or on a purpose-built private circuit, but at the Circuit de la Sarthe itself, during the 2026 Le Mans Classic, the event that celebrates the very cars and races that inspired it. Before the GMA Le Mans GTR XP1 turned a wheel in anger, Gordon Murray himself walked to the starting grid and waved the French tricolour to send the Le Mans Classic field away. Nine cars spanning his career were then demonstrated on the circuit, Brabham BT Formula One machines, the T.50, the T.50s Niki Lauda, the T.33, McLaren F1 GTR Shorttails, the Duckhams LM Ford, a moving career retrospective set against the backdrop of the Mulsanne Straight and the Porsche Curves. Only then did the Le Mans GTR take to the track for the first time. Read More Ford's Mustang GTD Is Already Banned From Racing Dario Franchitti was behind the wheel, the same driver who set a lap record at Bahrain in the T.50s Niki Lauda earlier this year. By all accounts, the car's defining quality at Le Mans was its sound. The naturally aspirated 4.0-litre Cosworth V12 produces 654 hp and pulls all the way to 12,100 rpm, a figure that puts it in the company of the most extreme high-revving engines in road car history. At those speeds, on that circuit, the noise was described by those present as unlike anything else on the track that weekend. In an era when even hypercars increasingly rely on forced induction or electrification, the Le Mans GTR's Cosworth unit makes a case for analog performance that is difficult to argue with. The car ran in Heritage Racing Green with exposed carbon fibre elements visible throughout the bodywork, a livery and material combination that connects it visually to the endurance racing tradition it draws from, while leaving the engineering beneath clearly visible. The design draws direct inspiration from the longtail Le Mans racers that defined the circuit's most spectacular era, the same cars Murray was watching, and in some cases designing, during his career. Read More Bugatti's New Molsheim Atelier Is Open and the Tourbillon Is Almost Ready Production of the Le Mans GTR is already underway at GMA's facility in Guildford, England. Only 24 examples will ever be built, and every single one has already been allocated to a client. Customer deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2027. For buyers who will receive their cars next year, the footage from Le Mans Classic gives them the clearest picture yet of what they have waiting for them, and more importantly, what it sounds like when it finally gets to stretch itself on the circuit it was named after.
