McLaren entered their first 24 hours of Le Mans in the LMGT1 category. WSC was the top and favored category to win, and Mario Andretti in a Courage C34 was going for his first Le Mans win at age 55 despite having 'retired' the previous year. It looked like this could be his year but weather favored the LMGT1 McLarens. In one of the wettest Le Mans races ever - with 17 hours of rain - the WSC power advantage was gone, combined with the Courage losing 30 minutes after Andretti tangled passing a slower car.

As the race played out, the #51 Harrods McLaren took the lead at around 3am, driven by Andy Wallace, Justin Bell and his father Derek Bell who himself was going for his sixth Le Mans win. But through the night, the Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing team car #59 moved up through the field. Never missing a beat, or suffering any misfortune, and eventually moved up to second place.

With two hours to go, the #51 Harrods car experienced gear box issues and had to pit for 5 minutes allowing the Kokusai car to take the lead. As the track dried, the WSC Courage with Andretti at the wheel was making up laps on the McLarens. Switching over to Bob Wollek for the final stint, the Courage caught and passed the Harrods car for second place and came up a mere three minutes short of overall victory to the Kokusai car, with the Harrods car coming in third.

McLaren took four of the top five positions for possibly the greatest Le Mans debut for any team ever. With his second place overall finish, Andretti did get his Le Mans win, but it was only a class win and not the long sought overall win. Derek Bell would return to the Harrods car the following year for his final Le Mans appearance.

1995 Ueno McLaren F1 GTR, Le Mans winner

Drivers: J. J. Lehto, Y. Dalmas, M. Sekiya

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Designed for the Fujim McLaren F1 GTR short tail kits, available in other scales.Classic Racing Resins makes a conversion kit to fix the ride-height issues with the Fujimi kit as well as providing optional parts. Model photos courtesy Classic Racing Resins.

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1995 Ueno McLaren F1 GTR, Le Mans winner

Drivers: J. J. Lehto, Y. Dalmas, M. Sekiya

Purchase 1995 Ueno Clinic McLaren F1 GTR Decals Select Scale 1/18 scale $16 1/24 scale $8 1/32 scale $7 1/43 scale $6 1/64 scale $5

Select Scale 1/18 scale $16 1/24 scale $8 1/32 scale $7 1/43 scale $6 1/64 scale $5

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Purchase 1995 Ueno Clinic McLaren F1 GTR Decals

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