One to Buy: ex-Konrad Motorsport / JB Racing / Larbre Competition 1997 Porsche 911 GT1 Evolution
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As Germany’s most successful marque when it came to Sports and GT racing, McLaren’s mid 90s domination with their BMW-powered F1 GTR was not something Porsche were prepared to accept.
Accordingly, within a few months of the F1 GTR having hit the track, the engineers at Porsche began work on a reverse engineered Prototype that, on account of the very limited GT1 production requirements, would ostensibly be able to masquerade as the kind of road-going machine that would meet the letter, if not the spirit, of the regulations.
On its debut at the 1996 Le Mans 24 Hours, the resultant 911 GT1 went on to blitz the competition and ultimately started an arms race between the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Toyota that led to the temporary collapse of top flight GT1 racing.
Currently on offer at the Maxted-Page showroom in Halstead, Essex, is a veteran of the 1997 and ‘98 FIA GT Championship that saw an epic battle for supremacy between Porsche, McLaren and Mercedes-Benz.
Chassis 109 was originally campaigned by the Konrad Motorsport squad who used it for five 1997 races plus Le Mans Pre-Qualifying scoring best finishes of seventh at the Helsinki 3 Hours and twelfth at the Silverstone 4 Hours.
In August 1997 the car was sent back to Porsche and uprated to Evolution specification, after which it was sold to JB Racing who contested another three races scoring a best finish of ninth at the Sebring 3 Hours.
For 1998, chassis 109 was sold to Larbre Competition who ran the car at Le Mans Pre-Qualifying and in two FIA GT Championship races scoring a best finish of eighth at Dijon.
Today, chassis 109 is presented in immaculate condition having been restored to its 1997 Marlboro-backed JB Racing trim and with a conversion to road specification recently carried out by Maxted-Page.
