ASM is one of a small group of teams who have purchased a brand new McLaren MP4 12C GT3 to run in 2012.

“It is fantastic news for ASM. We’re sure that McLaren GT will revolutionize the reality of GT3 championships, and ASM will be competing in 2012 with the right car.” Simões said.

In a category where the performance is equalized by the FIA McLaren GT is undertaking a development program aimed at delivering a car of high quality, reliable, extremely easy to drive and easily adaptable to any circuit, leading to a much closer level of performance between amateur and professional drivers.

“In my visit to the McLaren factory in May, I had the opportunity to see the detail and attention that was placed on construction and finish of this car. It’s a car to compete and to compete in a category where currently militate many non-professional drivers. The importance given by McLaren to this respect is very important to us.” Simões concluded.

To help the teams, McLaren has developed the car to achieve the lowest possible running costs, using many parts from the road car which interestingly is more powerful than the GT3 version, given the performance level imposed by the FIA.

The championships where ASM will participate will be announced in a near future but all the championships that include the GT3 class are to be considered.

“We do not have our sports program closed for 2012 but, in addition to Portuguese and Spanish GT Championships, there are the Open GT, the Blancpain which includes the 24H of Spa, and other races as the 24H of Dubai and 12H of Abu Dhabi. These last races are a good fit in our team organization with the experience accumulated in the 6 years we had in the LMS.” said Joao Basso, Team Manager for the GT program at ASM Team.

ASM intends to continue using Dunlop tires and the expertise of Alan Mugglestone as race engineer, that were part of the team during their participation in the Le Mans Series where they earned the LMP2 championship victory in 2009.

Note that the ASM Team is committed in his return to GT racing, where they raced from 2003 to 2010 very successfully reaching 27 victories, one vice-championship and two championship wins.

The car will be delivered well in advance of the new season, and ASM counts to have a very competitive team for the various fronts in 2012.

For more information and to view more photos of the car please visit our Multimedia section