GMA Le Mans GTR gets moving at Le Mans with a 12,100 rpm V12

The GMA Le Mans GTR was never going to be introduced under soft lights on a static plinth.

Gordon Murray Automotive has given its longtail-inspired supercar a fitting first run at the 2026 Le Mans Classic, sending experimental prototype XP1 onto Circuit de la Sarthe with Dario Franchitti at the wheel.

For a car shaped by endurance racing memory and powered by a naturally aspirated V12 that revs to 12,100 rpm, the setting could hardly have been more appropriate.

At a glance

A longtail silhouette on the Mulsanne

Finished in a deep heritage racing green, XP1 looked entirely at home as it stretched out along the Mulsanne Straight and worked through the Porsche Curves.

The Le Mans GTR’s proportions make the reference point clear without turning the car into a retro exercise.

Its elongated tail and aero-led stance nod to the great longtail endurance racers of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, periods that still define the visual language of Le Mans prototypes and GT machines.

That heritage matters here because Gordon Murray’s name is inseparable from some of modern motorsport’s most exacting engineering ideas.

The Le Mans GTR channels that background into something more focused than a conventional special edition, using racing influence as a functional brief rather than a styling theme.

The 12,100 rpm V12 is the headline act

The dynamic debut also gave the car’s Cosworth-developed V12 its first public moment in motion.

Revving to 12,100 rpm, the naturally aspirated engine delivers the kind of mechanical theatre that has become increasingly rare in the upper tier of modern performance cars.

GMA has paired the V12 with a six-speed manual gearbox, a choice that says as much about the company’s priorities as the engine itself.

This is a car built around driver involvement, not just lap-time abstraction or electronic speed.

At Le Mans, that philosophy came through in the most direct way possible, with the sound of the V12 carrying across one of racing’s most storied circuits.

Endurance influence with road intent

The Le Mans GTR sits on a new platform developed to bring together road usability and track precision.

That balance is central to the car’s identity, because this isn’t simply a track demonstration piece dressed for the road.

Aerodynamics take the lead in the car’s shape, but the broader idea is to capture endurance racing’s clarity of purpose while keeping the analogue qualities that have defined Gordon Murray Automotive’s most desirable machines.

For collectors, the appeal will be obvious.

The Le Mans GTR is limited, visually distinctive and tied to a racing tradition that remains unusually powerful in the supercar world.

Details & Specifications

With every build slot already taken, the Le Mans GTR is less a car seeking an audience than one rewarding a very small group of committed buyers.

Its first public run did exactly what it needed to do, placing a high-revving, manual, longtail Gordon Murray machine in the environment that inspired it.