McLaren building towards a return to prototype racing

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown (main image) has been consistent in his response when asked – with increasing frequency in recent years – if the storied British marque will join the dozen-plus auto manufacturers who’ve committed to international prototype racing.

Brown’s been fond of saying, “It’s not a case of if, but when,” and RACER has learned the U.K.-based manufacturer is moving ahead with a factory program.

According to multiple sources, McLaren has signed Dallara to construct cars that will be built to the same LMDh formula used by Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Lamborghini, and Porsche in IMSA’s GTP class, and by Alpine, BMW, Cadillac, and Porsche in the World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar category.

RACER understands the main action item left to complete for McLaren is the sourcing of an engine supplier to power its hybrid GTP/Hypercar entries.

McLaren last competed in sportscar racing’s top tier in the 1990s with the F1 GTR, which scored a memorable win against the faster prototypes at Le Mans in 1995. Motorsport Images

McLaren’s road car division has relied on a number of vendors like Mercedes-AMG and Ricardo to provide engines for its range of supercar models, but a desire to collaborate with a manufacturer to join in the LMDh racing program — just as BMW powered the original McLaren F1 GTRs in the 1990s – is said to be part of the brand’s planned elevation to prototype competition.

Teams and timelines are the other important items to determine, and while a McLaren spokesperson declined to comment on the project when reached by RACER, the United Autosports LMP2 outfit co-owned by Brown and Richard Dean, which competes in IMSA’s LMP2 class, the European Le Mans Series’ LMP2 category, and each June at the 24 Hours of Le Mans where it has won back-to-back races, is expected to be confirmed as the official service provider behind the effort.

McLaren’s entry into GTP/LMDh is likely to take a similar path to what Hyundai has chosen with its upcoming Genesis GMR-001 LMDh program, which is set for a staggered introduction in the WEC in 2026 and IMSA in 2027. McLaren is tipped to do the same, albeit one-year later, with testing to commence in 2026, its WEC debut in 2027, and an expansion into IMSA’s GTP ranks in 2028 or 2029.

With five manufacturers currently represented in IMSA’s top class, the arrival of Aston Martin’s Valkyrie AMR-LMH in March at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring will push the number to six and the confirmed effort from Hyundai will make seven.

With both Ford and McLaren working on upcoming GTP/Hypercar programs, the series could be forced to consider making changes within its four-tier class structure later in the decade to accommodate an all-time high in participation among major prototype manufacturers.