Inside the McLaren that won its first and only race at Le Mans

In 1995, the McLaren F1 GTR of JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas, and Masanori Sekiya beat the odds (and its fellow F1 GTR runners) to take a surprise Le Mans 24 Hours victory. 

That car, entered by Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing and run by Paul Lanzante, was only ever meant to run as a test car as McLaren scaled up its F1 road car into an endurance racing machine. After winning Le Mans, this version of the GTR – dubbed the 01R internally – never raced again. Thus, in its only race, it won motorsport’s most prestigious endurance event.

Ahead of Lehto’s reunion at 2025’s Goodwood Festival of Speed with the car that spawned a Le Mans legend, McLaren invited us to film its shakedown of the F1 GTR at Pembrey – making this the first time it had been filmed on-track in 30 years. 

We delve into what made this car so special, and how it managed to win the 1995 edition of Le Mans in torrential conditions – with a little help from Lehto and his recollections of that famous 24 hours in France.