McLaren to join the WEC Hypercar class in 2027, returning to Le Mans

Owen Bradley
4 days ago
3 min read

Written by Owen Bradley

McLaren have announced that they have intentions to race in the World Endurance Championship's Hypercar class in 2027, with this announcement coming after years of speculation and intrigue, with many other manufacturers joining over the last few years.

The Woking-Based British team released a short teaser video on social media featuring the outline of a Hypercar with orange lights flaring in the background. At the end of the video, it says: "We're Back." Along with an official announcement for the McLaren Endurance Racing team.

This announcement also comes just a few months after Ford announced that they would also be racing in the Hypercar class from 2027. With many new Manufacturers joining over the last few years, the WEC has picked up interest from many other teams as well.

In just a short space of time, with Ferrari joining in 2023, BMW joining in 2024 and Aston Martin joining in 2025, the last few years have been full of growth and excitement for the WEC Championship. In 2027, the new LMDh regulations will be introduced, with that season effectively allowing teams to start from a blank slate.

There is great intrigue from fans, drivers and team personnel because for new manufacturers coming into the championship, it has taken them at least a season or two to fully get up to speed. BMW entered into both the WEC and IMSA Championships in 2024 and therefore were able to get a lot of data on their car.

However, looking at Alpine who have only entered into the WEC, they struggled in the first half of the 2024 season for results and points, despite a glowing result in Fuji, where the No.36 Alpine managed to get onto the podium with Mick Schumacher at the wheel in the final hour of that race.

Aston Martin will be another reference point for McLaren, as the other British racing team have struggled greatly in their first races of the WEC and IMSA championships, particularly at the Qatar 1812km, the opening round of the WEC season, where they finished in last place, and were many laps down on the leaders.

With so many of the new manufacturers taking a long time to get up to speed, time which these teams don't exactly have the luxury to afford, with the season being just eight races in the WEC season, McLaren will have their work cut out for them.

Their saving grace however, may be that the 2027 regulations will be different for everybody and therefore should balance out the field.

No drivers have yet been announced by McLaren for their 2027 WEC campaign, neither has McLaren announced an interest to enter the IMSA championship either, however McLaren have now got multiple years ahead of them to get working on this project.

McLaren do in fact have some current modern experience in the WEC championship, with there being multiple McLaren GT3 cars running in the LMGT3 category. Zak Brown, McLaren's CEO, made an appearance at the opening round of the championship and did in fact say: "We love Sportscar racing, It'd be cool to go for it again, We're impressed with the rules, the competition."

McLaren therefore join a very competitive grid in 2027, featuring Ferrari, BMW, Aston Martin, Ford, Genesis, Peugeot, Alpine, Toyota, Cadillac and Porsche.