Dubai: Forty-nine individuals in the GCC will soon get to decide whether they want a piece of automotive history in the making. The 49 are owners of the McLaren P1 and the manufacturer has now given them the option to decide whether they want to buy the strictly limited P1 GTR version. If they do say “Yes”, the first deliveries could be ready by late next year.

The P1 GTR (which will trace its lineage to the legacy setting F1 GTR and winner at Le Mans) will only be built in “very low double-digits” and carry a price tag of £1.98 million (Dh12.38 million). And, by the way, these models will not be street-legal.

So, will there be many takers for McLaren’s “hypercar redux”?

“The Gulf has been a most receptive market for the P1 (of which only 375 will be built and the final deliveries of the £850,00 plus models are going on),” said Ian Gorsuch, the regional director. “We will be putting the word out on the P1 GTR with these buyers and [we are] quite hopeful many of them will exercise the option.”

It will take a lot to put more muscle into the P1, whose twin-turbo V8 can thrum out of a 903-hp staccato.

For the P1 GTR, matters have been slightly easier given that no road legislation requirements need to be factored in. McLaren has confirmed it is looking at a power output of 986hp, and with more aggressive design styling than the quite easy-on-the-eye P1.

For those sports car enthusiasts, but with slightly lower budgets to express it, McLaren is building the P13 (that’s the code name). “It was clearly our intention to enter a lower pricing category with a model that will offer more than is the average performance criteria but with lesser annual production than the competition,” said Gorsuch. Based on these criteria, the P13 should be priced below £150,000.

“It’s going to be one cool-looking two-seater and a carbon chassis being the build platform,” said Gorsuch. And powered by a V8, which is something it will share with other models in the company’s stable.

While it opens up McLaren’s chances in a lower-pricing category, the P1 — available next year — will also raise the carmaker’s annual production to 4,000 units a year.

With a higher production comes the need for a broader dealer network. By the end of this year, the plan is to have 70, with new additions in Asia and America, from the 50 it had in 2013. “For the Middle East, we are fully stocked from an importer perspective,” said Gorsuch.