After they revealed its full technical specs, McLaren today held a press conference to announce launch of the MP4-12C GT3 race car, and revealed its pricing. It’s £310,000.

So the McLaren is priced close to its main rival Mercedes SLS GT3. That makes it hard to the privateers who are seeking for a top-notch prestigious endurance racer choosing between the two. They both offer great capabilities, and they both look awesome!

The McLaren MP4-12C GT3 will be more exclusive, as they will only make 20 units of it for the 2012 season. It gets the same V8 engine as the road-going version, but it’s actually a 100 hp weaker because of the rules. The car is bang on up to date and features advanced materials and computers to make sure it is the most drivable and hopefully the fastest car on the grid.

Check out some footage of the press conference below…

Andrew Kirkaldy, CRS Racing Team Principal and Project Manager for McLaren GT said: “Having been a customer of GT car manufacturers for many years, I’m delighted we are now able to offer a carbon chassis based GT3 car for £310,000. There will be no hidden costs and we will work as hard as we can to support as many races as we can.

“We will spend the 2011 season developing the car with a team from McLaren Racing, McLaren Applied Technologies and McLaren Automotive and make sure this is the most efficient, reliable and easy to drive GT3 car on the grid when we deliver cars to customers next year.”

Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren Group CEO said: “The new MP4-12C sports car is the essence of a race car and we used Formula 1 simulation technology to get us ahead in our development programme. We have a unique mix of experience in the McLaren GT team and I expect the 12C GT3 to be the start of our GT racing plans. We have had great success outside of Formula 1, from the US, to France, to Japan and there is no reason why we can’t repeat that success in sports cars after 2012.”