McLaren has, after many years of speculation, finally confirmed a Hypercar programme in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The announcement appears thirty years after their first and only overall 24 Hours of Le Mans victory. That was back when all the cars were GT based, with McLaren F1 GTR being the choice of weapon back then.
It’s very limited with the official information, since the announcement was made in a short video by McLaren CEO Zak Brown, where he told that the marque would return to Le Mans.
We do however know, that McLaren will participate with a car in the LMDh regulations, which is based on a chassis build by ORECA, Dallara, Multimatic, or Ligier.
Graphics: McLaren
We also know, that McLaren will participate in the FIA World Endurance Championship, which is a demand to be able to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is not yet known, if they are going to participate in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with Zak Brown only talking about Le Mans.
The programme will start in 2027, so it won’t be that long until the test programme will be on track.
McLaren will be the 16th constructor, who has built a car, able to compete in the Hypercar category. Toyota, Glickenhaus, Peugeot, Ferrari, Vanwall, Isotta Fraschini, and Aston Martin have all built cars to the LMH rule set, while Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Porsche, Alpine, and Lamborghini already have a car running, while Genesis will race in 2026, with Ford and Mclaren joining in 2027.
Today’s announcement from Zak Brown specifically points towards the aim of winning The Triple Crown in the very same year, after winning Indianapolis 500, Monaco F1, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in different seasons.
