McLaren to bid for Le Mans 24 Hours victory in 2027
British team's racing arm to take on Ferrari and Aston Martin in endurance classic McLaren will return to the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2027 with a new hypercar programme, when it will take on Ferrari and Aston Martin in a bid to claim its first outright win in the fabled event since 1995. The much-rumoured return to the endurance classic was confirmed by the Formula 1 squad with a teaser video showing a hypercar outline on Instagram, tagging in both Le Mans organisers and the FIA World Endurance Championship with the message “see you on track in 2027.” In a brief statement, McLaren Racing said: “1995. Legendary Le Mans victory. Triple Crown glory. Ready to make our mark on the world endurance stage once again. Hypercar. 2027 World Endurance Championship.” It is understood that McLaren Racing – which is separate to the Automotive division that recently merged with Forseven – will enter the hypercar class using the cost-controlled LMDh rules, which requires teams to use one of a number of customer chassis and a spec hybrid system. Entrants supply their own combustion engine, and a natural choice would be the V6 twin turbo uses in both the road and track versions of the Artura. Total output is capped at 670bhp. McLaren took a shock victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours at its first attempt in 1995, with a GT1 class McLaren F1 GTR driven by JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya run by the British Lanzante squad (but entered as Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing) triumphing in torrential conditions. McLaren F1 GTRs filled four of the first five positions. That result was technically a customer entry, with the race version of the seminal McLaren F1 only developed after requests from potential buyers. Customer McLarens continued to appear on the grid until 1998. Since then the firm has regularly developed various GT racing cars in the following years, but these were developed by the firm’s Automotive division and used for customer racing. The firm returned to Le Mans this year with the 720S GT3 Eco in the LMGT3 class. McLaren Racing has steadily expanded its motorsport activities beyond F1 in recent years, and now runs teams in the IndyCar Series, Formula E and Extreme E. McLaren will become the 11th manufacturer to contest the WEC’s hypercar division. There are currently eight marques on the grid, split between the LMDh and Le Mans Hypcercar classed, with Genesis due to enter next year and Ford joining in 2027.
British team's racing arm to take on Ferrari and Aston Martin in endurance classic
McLaren will return to the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2027 with a new hypercar programme, when it will take on Ferrari and Aston Martin in a bid to claim its first outright win in the fabled event since 1995.
The much-rumoured return to the endurance classic was confirmed by the Formula 1 squad with a teaser video showing a hypercar outline on Instagram, tagging in both Le Mans organisers and the FIA World Endurance Championship with the message “see you on track in 2027.”
In a brief statement, McLaren Racing said: “1995. Legendary Le Mans victory. Triple Crown glory. Ready to make our mark on the world endurance stage once again. Hypercar. 2027 World Endurance Championship.”
It is understood that McLaren Racing – which is separate to the Automotive division that recently merged with Forseven – will enter the hypercar class using the cost-controlled LMDh rules, which requires teams to use one of a number of customer chassis and a spec hybrid system. Entrants supply their own combustion engine, and a natural choice would be the V6 twin turbo uses in both the road and track versions of the Artura. Total output is capped at 670bhp.
McLaren took a shock victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours at its first attempt in 1995, with a GT1 class McLaren F1 GTR driven by JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya run by the British Lanzante squad (but entered as Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing) triumphing in torrential conditions. McLaren F1 GTRs filled four of the first five positions.
That result was technically a customer entry, with the race version of the seminal McLaren F1 only developed after requests from potential buyers. Customer McLarens continued to appear on the grid until 1998. Since then the firm has regularly developed various GT racing cars in the following years, but these were developed by the firm’s Automotive division and used for customer racing. The firm returned to Le Mans this year with the 720S GT3 Eco in the LMGT3 class.
McLaren Racing has steadily expanded its motorsport activities beyond F1 in recent years, and now runs teams in the IndyCar Series, Formula E and Extreme E.
McLaren will become the 11th manufacturer to contest the WEC’s hypercar division. There are currently eight marques on the grid, split between the LMDh and Le Mans Hypcercar classed, with Genesis due to enter next year and Ford joining in 2027.
