When the 24 Hours of Le Mans comes around in June this year, it’ll mark a pretty big anniversary for McLaren. 30 years ago, the manufacturer rocked up to the Circuit de la Sarthe for the first time in its history with the now-legendary F1 and won the whole thing.
Since then, the Woking-based manufacturer hasn’t repeated that feat, last entering the top class of the world’s most famous endurance race in 1998. It wants to change that, though.
Speaking with Motorsport.com during the World Endurance Championship’s opening round in Qatar, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has hinted at the manufacturer entering a car in the series’ Hypercar class, which would take them to Le Mans.
1995 McLaren F1 GTR
Brown said: “It is pretty clear that we would like to do it; we would love to be going for the overall win at Le Mans. I don’t think the timing has ever been better.”
McLaren will have a presence at the race this year, with United Autosports fielding two 720S in the LMGT3 class. However, there may be more to it than that, with Brown adding: “We will have a nice display there in the Le Mans museum and hopefully we will have some exciting stuff to talk about.”
Notably, he’s confirmed he’ll be attending the race instead of Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix that weekend, which only adds weight to the theory of a top-class announcement.
McLaren 720S LMGT3
Motorsport has reported that McLaren has signed off a car complying with LMDh regulations, with a Dallara-built chassis and a V6 engine derived from the Artura road car. It’s unclear when that entry could appear on the grid, although 2027 has been touted.
Providing no manufacturers drop out, that’d make for a grid containing Ferrari, BMW, Porsche, Cadillac, Toyota, Aston Martin, Peugeot, Alpine, Genesis and McLaren all competing for the same prize. Talk about a golden era.
