Whatever McLaren does, it has to have some sort of motorsport connection. It’s just in their blood. So they lobbied around and found a gig for their entry-level sports car, the McLaren 570S, just so they can say it is involved in the some form of motorsport activity.

The gig they’ve got for the McLaren 570S is a safety car job for the 2016 season of British GT Championship. Hardly a difficult task for a 570 horsepower sports car, but quite prestigious nonetheless. The 570S Coup Safety Car will preside over all nine rounds of the season, pacing a field of super cars which includes its own sibling, the McLaren 650S GT3.

McLaren 570S safety car is well-equipped for the job, boasting a mid-mounted 3.8-litre twin turbo V8 engine generating 570PS (562bhp) and 600Nm (443lb ft) of torque. The car also shares a racing car feature with the competitors, and that’s a carbon fibre chassis, a features that also makes it light enough so it can achieve a 0-60 mph time of 3.2 seconds – crucial when it’s heading a pack of GT3 racing cars.

Commenting on the new partnership with the British GT Championship, Ansar Ali, Motorsport Director at McLaren Automotive, explained: “Motorsport is a key element to the make-up of McLaren – both in terms of our hugely successful history but also the extremely exciting future. This latest partnership with the British GT Championship underlines the common links between McLaren road-going and track-dedicated models.”