McLaren Will Return to Le Mans with the Mighty MCL-HY
· Yahoo Sports
McLaren has won at Le Mans before.
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When the team arrived at the Circuit de la Sarthe in 1995, few predicted that a lightly modified road car, the F1 GTR, would walk away with outright victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Yet, in one of the wettest races in the event’s history—with about 17 hours of steady rain—the team’s F1 GTR driven by JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas, and Masanori Sekiya drove off with a victory, McLaren’s first win at the Vingt Quatre Heures.
Of course, McLaren won there before, when Bruce McLaren himself drove a Ford GT40 MkII to the victory in 1966.
Now McLaren is ready to return to victory with this, the MCL-HY FIA Hypercar that will enter the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class in 2027. Current Hypercar competitors include: three-time winners Ferrari AF Corse with theFerrari 499P, Toyota Gazoo Racing with its GR010 Hybrid, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s963, Cadillac V-Series.R, BMW M Team WRT with theBMW M Hybrid V8, Alpine Endurance Team’sA424, Peugeot TotalEnergies’9X8, Aston Martin THOR Team’sValkyrie, and Genesis Magma Racing’sGMR-001.
It won’t be just a race car, it’ll be available as a track day car for a handful of lucky customers. But, sadly, it won’t be homologated as a street car.
The track day variant, called the MCL-HY GTR, will be developed in parallel with the race car.
The MCL-HY test car will be developed in a robust 2026 test program ahead of homologation, McLaren says.
It’s all part of a more audacious plan. McLaren says its return to racing in the premier class at Le Mans also marks the beginning of a challenge to once again take the Triple Crown of motorsport: victory at the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With McLaren already competing at the pinnacle of Formula 1 and the NTT IndyCar Series, the MCL-HY completes the final piece of an ambition that McLaren is uniquely placed to contend for, the team says.
McLarenThe McLaren Hypercar Team will begin on-track testing of the MCL-HY this month, a program that will support the simultaneous development of both the race car and its track car counterpart ahead of McLaren’s WEC debut in 2027.
For the 2026 test program, McLaren Hypercar Team works driver Mikkel Jensen will be supported by McLaren Driver Development Program (DDP) drivers Gregoire Saucy and Richard Verschoor. In addition, United Autosports driver Ben Hanley will bring his valuable development experience to the team.
McLarenBuilt to the ACO/IMSA LMDh regulations, the MCL-HY combines a lightweight carbon fiber monocoque with what McLaren calls exceptional balance. Power comes from a twin‑turbocharged V6 race engine paired with a hybrid MGU system, delivering up to 697 bhp to the driven rear axle. With a minimum weight of 2,270 pounds and a highly efficient power‑to‑weight ratio, the MCL‑HY has been developed “to balance outright performance with endurance racing efficiency, designed to operate at the very highest level of the FIA World Endurance Championship and the demanding 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
McLarenJust as Ferrari eliminated the hybrid component from its 296 to make the Ferrari Challenge car (for instance), the MCL-HY GTR track car variant of the McLaren has been deliberately developed without the FIA Hypercar’s mandated LMDh hybrid system and is powered purely by the 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged gasoline-fed racing engine. That results in a lower dry weight while still making 720 bhp.
“This decision ensures that clients benefit from a purer driving experience on track days; one that delivers authentic Hypercar performance and feel without additional complexity, and a simpler ownership model that prioritizes accessibility above all else,” McLaren says.
The MCL-HY GTR track car variant also represents a first-of-its-kind collaboration between McLaren Racing and McLaren Automotive, engineered in parallel with the race car.
McLarenFor those who possess one of these, ownership of the MCL-HY GTR extends far beyond the car itself, McLaren notes.
McLaren Automotive has developed an exclusive program offering unprecedented access to McLaren Racing’s World Endurance Championship operation. Project: Endurance will immerse clients in the team’s journey, from testing and development, through to the drama of the 2027 24 Hours of Le Mans.
That means MCL-HY GTR owners will also take part in a two-year, six-event track driving program curated across premier international circuits, which includes opportunities to drive their car on PURE McLaren track events, exclusive, high-performance driving programs organized by McLaren Automotive at iconic racetracks globally. Each client will benefit from professional driver coaching, a dedicated pit crew and race engineering support, participating on a fully inclusive arrive-and-drive basis.
But patience will be a virtue. Deliveries of the McLaren MCL-HY GTR track car are to begin toward the end of 2027.
McLaren