VIN: the Works / Team Lark / Team Take One McLaren F1 GTR chassis 19R
History of chassis 19R
Having secured the 1996 Japanese GT Championship, Team Lark decided not to participate in the 1997 series in protest at over-arching restrictions designed to ensure their McLarens did not win; dramatic power cuts and further weight penalties were being discussed well beyond the restricted 550bhp motors and 200kg of ballast levied in ‘96.
In 1997, Team Lark (run by Kazumichi Goh with backing from McLaren and Philip Morris) ran a much-reduced campaign that focused on the Le Mans 24 Hours and Japan’s biggest sports car race: the Suzuka 1000km.
For the attack on Le Mans (which included Pre-Qualifying and a run-out at the Silverstone 4 Hours). Team Lark leased chassis 27R from Parabolica Motorsport.
For the Suzuka 1000km (which took place two months after Le Mans), a different car was readied: McLaren’s 1997 F1 GTR prototype, chassis 19R.
The well-used machine (which had covered over 30,000km of test mileage) was painted Lark’s signature grey and pink colour scheme and allocated to the all-Japanese crew of Masanori Sekiya, Keiichi Tsuchiya and Akihiko Nakaya.
Having qualified ninth, 19R had a solid run at Suzuka which was only interrupted by a puncture for Tsuchiya. Lark finished ninth overall and ninth in the GT1 class.
The car did not race again until 1999, by which time it had been sold to Hideki Okada who planned to use it in the Japanese GT Championship despite some of the aforementioned penalties still being in place.
Okada would also race the by now yellow 19R at the non-championship Suzuka 1000km. Here it picked up its best results with a trio of podium finishes (second overall in 1999 and 2000 and third in 2001).
Between 1999 and 2002, Okada and his various co-drivers made 29 appearances in the Japanese GT Championship with 19R. However, performance restrictions to favour the domestic teams meant the McLaren only finished on the podium once (when it took victory at Mine in 2001).
19R was retired from front-line competition at the end of the 2002 season.
It has since been restored to 1997 Suzuka 1000km trim.
Notable History
McLaren Cars
Used for testing and development
08/1997 sold to Team Lark McLaren
24/08/1997 FIA Suzuka 1000km (K. Tsuchiya / M. Sekiya / A. Nakaya) 9th oa, 9th GT1 class(#44)
Sold to Hideki Okada (Team Take One)
21/03/1999 JGT Suzuka (Y. Yamada / H. Okada) DNF (#30)
02/05/1999 JGT Fuji (Y. Yamada / H. Okada) DNF (#30)
30/05/1999 JGT Sugo (Y. Yamada / H. Okada) 12th oa, 12th GT500 class (#30)
11/07/1999 JGT Mine (Y. Yamada / H. Okada) 9th oa, 9th GT500 class (#30)
08/08/1999 JGT Fuji (Y. Yamada / H. Okada) 14th oa, 14th GT500 class (#30)
22/08/1999 IND Suzuka 1000km (Y. Yamada / H. Okada / Mogi) 2nd oa, 2nd GT500 class (#30)
26/09/1999 JGT Aida (Y. Yamada / H. Okada) 14th oa, 14th GT500 class (#30)
24/10/1999 JGT Motegi (Y. Yamada / H. Okada) 11th oa, 11th GT500 class(#30)
28/11/1999 JGT Autopolis (Y. Yamada / H. Okada) 14th oa, 14th GT500 class (#30)
02/04/2000 JGT Motegi (Y. Yamada / H. Okada) DNF (#30)
04/05/2000 JGT Fuji (Y. Yamada / H. Okada) DNF (#30)
28/05/2000 JGT Sugo (Y. Yamada / H. Okada) 12th oa, 12th GT500 class (#30)
06/08/2000 JGT Fuji (Y. Yamada / H. Okada) 12th oa, 12th GT500 class (#30)
27/08/2000 IND Suzuka 1000km (H. Okada / M. Hasemi / T. Tanaka) 2nd oa, 2nd GT500 class (#30)
10/09/2000 JGT Aida (H. Okada / T. Matsuda) 4th oa, 4th GT500 class (#30)
01/10/2000 JGT Mine (H. Okada / T. Matsuda) DNF (#30)
22/10/2000 JGT Suzuka (H. Okada / T. Matsuda) DNF (#30)
15/04/2001 JGT Aida (H. Okada / A. Couto) 8th oa, 8th GT500 class (#30)
04/05/2001 JGT Fuji (H. Okada / A. Couto) DNF (#30)
27/05/2001 JGT Sugo (H. Okada / A. Couto) 12th oa, 12th GT500 class (#30)
05/08/2001 JGT Fuji (H. Okada / A. Couto) DNF (#30)
26/08/2001 IND Suzuka 1000km (H. Okada / A. Couto / R. Lyons) 3rd oa, 3rd GT500 class (#30)
16/09/2001 JGT Motegi (H. Okada / A. Couto) 6th oa, 6th GT500 class (#30)
28/10/2001 JGT Suzuka (H. Okada / A. Couto) 10th oa, 10th G500 class (#30)
11/11/2001 JGT Mine (H. Okada / A. Couto) 1st oa, 1st GT500 class (#30)
14/04/2002 JGT Aida (H. Okada / H. Kurosawa) 16th oa, 16th GT500 class (#30)
04/05/2002 JGT Fuji (H. Okada / H. Kurosawa) 9th oa, 9th GT500 class (#30)
26/05/2002 JGT Sugo (H. Okada / H. Kurosawa) 14th oa, 14th GT500 class (#30)
28/07/2002 JGT Fuji (H. Okada / H. Kurosawa) DNF (#30)
15/09/2002 JGT Motegi (H. Okada / H. Kurosawa) DNF (#30)
27/10/2002 JGT Mine (H. Okada / H. Kurosawa) DNF (#30)
17/11/2002 JGT Suzuka (H. Okada / H. Kurosawa) 11th oa, 11th GT500 class (#30)
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: unattributed
