Project Four Racing

Founded	1976
Folded	1980 (merged withMcLaren)
Teamprincipal(s)	Ron Dennis
Former series	European Formula Two Championship British Formula 3 Championship BMW M1 Procar Championship

Project Four Racing was a BritishFormula Two andFormula Three team. The team was founded in 1976 by formerBrabham mechanicRon Dennis. At the end of 1980, the team merged with theMcLarenFormula One team.

The team name lived on in the designation of the McLaren F1 race cars from1981 to the2016 season, all McLarens, starting with theJohn Barnard designedMcLaren MP4/1, had carried the "MP4" name, with MP4 standing for "Marlboro Project 4" and later "McLaren Project 4". The road carMcLaren MP4-12C also carried the prefix until it was dropped for the 2012 model year. From2017 onward, after the departure of Dennis from McLaren, the team began to designate their cars with the name "MCL".^[1]

The team competed in theEuropean Formula Two Championship. Driving aBMW poweredRalt RT1,Eddie Cheever recorded the team's first race win in1977 in the second of two races making up Round 4 at theNürburgring on his way to finishing second for the round. Cheever then went on to win Round 8 at theRouen-Les-Essarts circuit. He finished the season in second place, 12 points behindRené Arnoux.

Over the next three seasons, Project Four would win just four more races before the team moved into Formula One with its last win coming thanks toAndrea de Cesaris who won Round 8 of the1980 season atMisano inItaly driving aMarch 802-BMW.

Project Four also raced in theBritish Formula Three Championship. Its first win came thanks toChico Serra, who won the opening round of the1979 championship onSilverstone's Club Circuit driving aToyota powered March 793. Serra won five of the seasons twenty races to win the championship from Andrea de Cesaris who drove a March 793-Toyota forTiga.Stefan Johansson won the1980 British Formula Three Championship driving for Project Four Racing.

For theBMW M1 Procar Championship, all cars were built to identical standards, although their origins varied.BS Fabrications constructed five cars for the BMW factory team, while cars for other competitors were constructed by Project Four Racing or the Italian constructorOsella. The racing cars, designed to meet Group 4 technical regulations, shared only some basics from the M1 road cars.

In 1979, Procar constructor Project Four entered a car forNiki Lauda when he was not in the factory entries. Lauda won 3 races for P4, and the series, before retiring from F1 racing in late September. In 1980,Hans-Joachim Stuck won two events for P4, finishing 3rd overall.

(key) (Results inbold indicate pole position; results initalics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Chassis	Engine(s)	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
1976	March 752 762 Ralt RT1	Lancia-Ferrari Hart 420R		HOC	THR	VAL	SAL	PAU	HOC	ROU	MUG	PER	EST	NOG	HOC
			Eddie Cheever	DNQ	4	DSQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret		3	5	8	15
			Jochen Mass	DNQ
			Vittorio Brambilla			Ret
			Gilles Villeneuve					Ret
			Mikko Kozarowitsky							DNQ	17	Ret
			Luciano Pavesi											DNS
1977	Ralt RT1	BMW		SIL	THR	HOC	NÜR	VAL	PAU	MUG	ROU	NOG	PER	MIS	EST	DON
			Eddie Cheever	7	2	Ret	2	3	Ret	17	1	5	Ret	2	3
			Ingo Hoffmann	4	Ret	Ret	7	16	8	9	5	3	3	3	NC	Ret
			Hans-Joachim Stuck			Ret
			Clay Regazzoni				Ret
1978	March 782	BMW		THR	HOC	NÜR	PAU	MUG	VAL	ROU	DON	NOG	PER	MIS	HOC
			Eddie Cheever	4	Ret	3	5	7	Ret	2	Ret	9	2	6	Ret
			Ingo Hoffmann	Ret	4	6	Ret	4	Ret	Ret	4	5	Ret	10	14
1979	March 792	BMW		SIL	HOC	THR	NÜR	VAL	MUG	PAU	HOC	ZAN	PER	MIS	DON
			Stephen South	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	1	Ret	3	8	3
			Derek Daly	2		2			Ret	Ret	2	11	2	Ret	1
			Keke Rosberg		1		Ret
			Andrea de Cesaris					6
1980	March 802	BMW		THR	HOC	NÜR	VAL	PAU	SIL	ZOL	MUG	ZAN	PER	MIS	HOC
			Andrea de Cesaris	3	Ret	Ret	2	Ret	2	Ret	5	Ret	6	1
			Chico Serra	4	4	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	4	Ret	Ret	Ret

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• British Formula Three teams
• Auto racing teams established in 1976

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