Review: First Overseas Winner - McLaren F1 GTR & the 1996 All-Japan GT Championship
Background
As had been the case in 1995, McLaren planned to build a batch of nine new F1 GTRs for the 1996 season. Of these, one was to be retained for research and development duty while the remaining eight would be sold to customer teams.
While rumours swirled of an involvement from BMW Motorsport for the forthcoming season, there was also much speculation about the destination of two cars which had been allocated to a thus far mystery Japanese outfit.
In mid February (shortly after BMW had confirmed they would be buying three cars for an attack on the Le Mans 24 Hours), McLaren made the surprise announcement of a factory-supported two-car programme for the 1996 All-Japan GT Championship.
The operation was to be overseen by McLaren boss Ron Dennis and managed by Kazumichi Goh whose team would benefit from an influx of factory personnel.
Financial backing came from the McLaren F1 team’s title sponsor, Philip Morris International; the shocking Black Obsidian Grey and Rocket Pink cars were to be branded with Philip Morris’s most popular cigarette in Japan: Lark.
Team Lark McLaren would contest the premier GT500 class of the six-round series with John Nielsen / David Brabham sharing one car (chassis 14R) and Naoki Hattori / Ralf Schumacher in the other (chassis 13R).
Although the domestic Japanese series did not garner a massive amount of international press at the time, it was a hugely popular series with fans and attracted arguably the highest calibre manufacturer and driver participation of any GT series.
Toyota, Nissan and Honda all supplied cars to myriad satellite teams; McLaren’s chief opposition for the ‘96 series was expected to come from the Cerumo, Toms and Fet Sports Toyota crews in addition to the Calsonic, Kure and Zexel Nissan Skylines.
Round 1: Suzuka
The ‘96 championship kicked off with a 51 lap race at Suzuka on March 31st.
Both qualifying sessions were held in wet conditions and with heavier rain in the afternoon, no-one was able to improve their earlier time.
The Hattori / Schumacher McLaren went fastest; it pipped the Cerumo Toyota Supra of Erik Comas / Hidetoshi Mitsusada to pole by a tenth of a second. Third spot went to the General Security Porsche 911 GT of Yoji Yamada / Eiichi Tajima. Meanwhile, Brabham / Nielsen were way back in 13th having mistimed their outing and got caught on a wet track.
In the race, Comas went passed Hattori when the McLaren hit traffic on lap twelve. However, after the driver changes, Schumacher overtook Mitsusada at the hairpin and proceeded to build a decent-sized gap.
With two laps to go, second-placed Mitsusada’s Supra was forced to retire owing to a problem with its Toyota’s fuel system.
This allowed Nielsen through to take the runner up spot and gift McLaren an unexpected one-two finish; chassis 14R had only recently passed the Unisia Jecs Skyline GT-R of Masahiro Hasemi / Tetsuya Tanaka after it had suddenly slowed four laps from the end.
Round 2: Fuji
Round two of the championship took place with a 67 lap race at Fuji on May 5th.
Qualifying saw Ralf Schumacher set a new track record to take pole.
Second spot went to the Cerumo Toyota Supra of Comas / Mitsusada which had gone just over half-a-second slower. Another two tenths back was the Brabham / Nielsen McLaren followed by the Toms Supra of Sekiya / de la Rosa.
In the race, pole-starter Hattori immediately found himself in a battle with team-mate Brabham. On lap four, Hattori locked up in the braking zone for turn one, span through the grassy infield and nearly collected Brabham en route to the gravel trap and instant retirement.
Comas then headed the chasing pack in his Supra until lap 16 when sudden tyre degradation forced the Frenchman into the pits.
It was then the turn of Sekiya’s Toms Supra to pursue Brabham and the two lead cars continued to engage in an epic battle after de la Rosa and Nielsen took over.
McLaren chassis 14R ultimately took the chequered flag by less than three seconds from the pursuing Toyota.
A minute down the road in third was the Sard Supra of Wayne Gardner / Alain Ferte.
Round 3: Sendai
Sendai Hi-Land Raceway hosted round three of the championship on June 30th.
Qualifying saw the Hattori / Schumacher McLaren record its third consecutive pole position with a fastest lap half-a-second quicker than the Fet Sports Toyota Supra of Tom Kristensen / Tatsuya Tanigawa.
Third spot went to the Yamada / Tajima General Security Porsche 911 GT while the Cerumo and Toms Supras of Comas / Takeuchi and Sekiya / de la Rosa lined up fourth and fifth respectively. Brabham / Nielsen started from sixth in the other Team Lark McLaren.
In the race, Hattori retained his advantage at the head of the field until Kristensen went passed on lap eight and began to pull away. The chasing pack that comprised the two McLarens and a trio of Supras battled among one another, but Brabham subsequently dropped well back after a spin.
When Kristensen brought his lead Supra in on lap 40 (of 63) a seized wheel nut caused a big delay and meant the car was no longer in contention for victory.
A slow pit-stop for the McLarens then followed when the two cars arrived more or less at the same time as one another. This enabled the Takeuchi / Comas Supra to inherit a six second lead. Amid the chaos, the Brabham / Nielsen GTR was much-delayed by a fuel spillage.
Schumacher set off in pursuit of Comas and began to close at the rate of around two seconds per lap. However, with eight laps to go, the German lost control at the first corner and 13R incurred suspension damage as it careered off track.
Comas / Takeuchi went on to take a well-deserved victory in their Cerumo Supra by 13 seconds from the Unisia Jecs Skyline of Hasemi / Tanaka. Brabham / Nielsen eventually came home in eighth overall while Hattori / Schumacher were classified 22nd.
Round 4: Fuji
Round four played out with a 90 minute race at Fuji on August 11th where Team Lark McLaren looked to get back to winning ways having suffered their first defeat at Sendai six weeks prior.
The Brabham / Nielsen GTR recorded its maiden pole of the year ahead of the Comas / Takeuchi Cerumo Supra. Hattori / Schumacher lined up third in the sister McLaren, behind which was the Toms Supra of Sekiya / de la Rosa.
In the race, Brabham and Schumacher both got great starts to lead the rest of the field early on.
However, towards the end of lap seven, Brabham missed his braking point which allowed Schumacher through. The German’s lead was extremely brief though as, while heading down the main straight and passing a slower car, Schumacher lost control and span off into the gravel to post another early retirement.
On lap 28, Brabham came in to hand the lead McLaren over to Nielsen. A 20 second delay owing to a brake problem allowed the Calsonic and Zexel Skylines of Kazuyoshi Hoshino / Masahiko Kageyama and Aguri Suzuki / Hideo Fukuyama through.
Nielsen ultimately recovered to finish second as Hoshino / Kageyama gave the Calsonic Skyline its first win of 1996.
Round 5: Sugo
The penultimate All-Japan GT Championship race of 1996 was held at Sugo on October 6th.
To stand any chance of taking the championship battle into the season finale, the Schumacher / Hattori McLaren had to win the two hour race in Miyagi Prefecture.
Their weekend got off to a good start when Schumacher secured pole by nearly six tenths of a second from the Kure Nissan GT-R of Toshio Suzuki / Masahiko Kondo. Next up were the Toms and Cerumo Supras of Sekiya / de la Rosa and Comas / Takeuchi. Behind them was the other McLaren of Brabham / Nielsen.
When the lights turned green, Schumacher immediately set about building a lead while Brabham also made a good start and moved from fifth to third behind the Kure Nissan.
At the beginning of lap two, Sekiya’s Toms Supra made a move on Brabham as the two cars headed down to turn one. They then touched on the exit of turn two and Brabham lost control which resulted in chassis 14R going into a half spin. Just as the stationary McLaren was moving off again, it was ploughed into by Eiichi Tajima’s General Security Porsche 911 GT. Both cars retired on the sport and the McLaren subsequently had to be sent back to England for repair.
After a six lap safety car delay to clean up the debris, the race resumed.
Schumacher came in from the lead to hand over to Hattori on lap 45. Hattori then spun the McLaren on the tight pit-lane exit and the ensuing delay dropped him down to fourth behind Kondo (Kure Skyline), de la Rosa (Toms Supra) and Kageyama (Calsonic Skyline).
An exciting finale saw Hattori overhaul all three cars ahead of him to take victory by two seconds. The Hoshino / Kageyama Calsonic Skyline took the runner up spot and Suzuki / Kondo were third in the Kure Nissan.
Round 6: Mine
The result at Sugo set up a thrilling end to the season at Mine on October 27th with four car and driver combinations still in with a shout of winning the title.
Out in front was the Calsonic Skyline of Hoshino / Kageyama on 54 points, the Brabham / Nielsen McLaren was on 53 points while team-mates Schumacher / Hattori and Cerumo Supra driver Comas were equal third on 40 points.
As chassis 14R had not been repaired following David Brabham’s accident in the previous race, McLaren had shipped chassis 04R over to Japan. This was the car previously owned by Lindsay Owen-Jones that raced under the Gulf Racing banner in the BPR series. It had been sitting at Woking since repair following a major accident at the Jarama 4 Hours in 1995.
Qualifying for the 250km race saw the McLarens lock out the front row with Hattori / Schumacher on pole followed by Brabham / Nielsen in the sister car. Immediately behind were the Supras of Comas / Takeuchi (Cerumo), Sekiya / de la Rosa (Toms) and Kristensen / Gachot (Fet Sports).
Promisingly for the McLaren drivers, championship leaders Hoshino and Kageyama started down in 13th.
The early stages of the race saw Schumacher rocket away while Brabham and Comas became locked in a fierce battle.
However, when championship leader Kageyama retired on lap 26 as the result of brake damage caused by an off-track excursion, Brabham dropped the pace knowing that, so long as he and Nielsen now finished fifth or higher, they would win the title.
Schumacher / Hattori went on to take their third win of the year with a lights-to-flag victory. They finished twelve seconds clear of Comas / Takeuchi in the Cerumo Supra while Suzuki / Fukuyama claimed the final podium spot in their Zexel Skyline.
Brabham / Nielsen came home fourth and ultimately secured the championship with 63 points compared to 60 for team-mates Schumacher / Hattori. Third in the standings was Cerumo Supra driver Erik Comas on 55.
Post-Season
Although the 1996 season had proven a more closely fought affair than many expected, plans by the All-Japan GT Championship organisers to heavily penalise the McLarens if they ran in 1997 convinced Ron Dennis not to return and defend the F1 GTR’s title.
1996 remains the one and only occasion that a non-Japanese car has ever won the premier GT500 series.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: McLaren - https://www.mclaren.com, Team Goh - https://teamgoh.com/ & Super GT - https://supergt.net/
