The following year, the GT1 class was abandoned and the McLarens no longer eligible. However, in an ACO sanctioned event in Japan in 1999, a McLaren F1 GTR was entered by Hitotsuyama Racing in the new LMGTP class for closed-cockpit prototypes. Had the McLaren won its class, it would have earned an automatic entry to Le Mans as a prototype in 2000, however the car failed to finish and the eventual class winner, a Toyota GT-One, declined the automatic invitation as Toyota decided to end the GT-One program in favour of Formula One.