McLaren’s roots as a brand are deeply steeped in the world of motorsport, and Le Mans was the stage for one of its most formative triumphs. The McLaren F1 GTR won the 24 Hours of Le Mans on its first outing in the prestigious endurance competition in 1995, and since then, the already celebrated racing legacy that McLaren boasted has only grown greater.
Now, McLaren is on the cusp of returning to Le Mans as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship, and it’s doing so in the top class with a hypercar aimed at taking the overall win. That hypercar, along with a client variant, has been previewed already with “Project: Endurance,” but now, an official name has been given to both the race car and its client racing variant. The race car will be called the MCL-HY, and the customer car will be called the MCL-HY GTR.
Destined for the 2027 FIA WEC, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the MCL-HY heralds a new era of endurance for McLaren, one which will hopefully carry on the legacy of the legendary F1 GTR. Meanwhile, the MCL-HY GTR will simultaneously offer clients a track car and a corresponding track day program with exclusive access to a new age of McLaren sports car racing.
While the naming conventions of the MCL-HY match those of McLaren’s Formula 1 cars, the MCL-HY GTR also takes on a cherished legacy nomenclature. Started by the F1 GTR, and continued with the P1 GTR and the Senna GTR, the MCL-HY GTR will be the latest in a long line of track-only masterpieces. A new era of McLaren racing is starting, and the new MCL-HY, which will be fully revealed on May 4, is at the center of it.
Image Source: McLaren
