The one-off Koenigsegg CCGT GT1 Le Mans car sold for £3.3m

Christian von Koenigsegg and his band of merry engineers see spare time not as a chance to down tools and relax, but instead an opportunity to go and build a one-off prototype able to compete at the toughest endurance race on Earth.

Welcome then, to a ‘side project’ that sold for millions over the weekend. The spectacular, one-off Koenigsegg CCGT GT1, originally built in 2007, sold for £3.3m at Bonhams’ Goodwood Festival of Speed sale last weekend.

Though its 600bhp+ naturally-aspirated V8 output feels like a supermini in comparison to the company’s latest production wares – the 2,269bhp hybrid Gemera – it only had to power less than 1,000kg of kerbweight. Plus, it was restricted anyway. That lovely carbon fibre/Kevlar body and aero package managed to generate 600kg of downforce, and sat atop a carbon fibre/honeycomb chassis featuring pushrod suspension, massive brakes and a sequential gearbox.

Apparently the CCGT took three years to hand-build by a crack team of Koenigsegg engineers led by Dag Bölenius, and in 2008 was tested by Loris Bicocchi. Unfortunately the ACO and FIA changed the regulations for the-then GT1 class – homologation production numbers jumped from 20 cars over several years to 350 per year – putting an end to Koenigsegg’s la Sarthe ambitions.

So the one-off prototype walked into the sunset and custody of the then largest Koenigsegg shareholder Bård Eker, who’s owned it ever since. Since 2008, it’s basically been stored in a temperature-controlled garage and run but twice a year. So the very lucky new owner has a practically brand-new, 2008-spec one-off Koenigsegg race car.

A long time ago, when the ‘Hypercar’ category was still being mooted, CvK told TopGear.com how he still harboured a desire to go back to Le Mans. “We would love to go and race there. Finally, there is a chance,” he told us back in 2018, noting the appeal of the new class.

Here’s hoping CvK’s still considering it. The campaign to get a Jesko to Le Mans begins here.