McLaren United AS is the name, designed by McLaren and run in collaboration with United Autosports, both of which are owned in part by Zak Brown.
The Hypercar will be powered by a V6 twin-turbo engine, created by McLaren Racing and McLaren Automotive. The LMDh chassis will be designed by Dallara.
“(The engine) is something that we’ve designed in collaboration with ATM, and so they’ll be providing us the engines,” Zak Brown said in a press conference attended by Speedcafe.com.
“Choosing to go with the LMDh platform, if we were to consider IMSA, I know now they are open-minded to LMH, they’re leaving open to LMH now, but at the time, that was going to be an LMDh platform, and so we wanted to be in a platform that gave us flexibility to race around.”
Brown also announced that former Jaguar Racing Formula E team principal James Barclay will move into the role of McLaren Autosport AS team principal.
“McLaren Racing’s return to the FIA World Endurance Championship marks the beginning of a new and exciting chapter for us, and James’s leadership will be crucial in guiding us through the coming months as we prepare for our 2027 entry,” Brown said.
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“I’ve known James a long time. I’m a big fan of Jame, which is why I brought him to be the team principal. I think he has a wealth of knowledge in a variety of motor sports, certainly in the Le Mans sports car race teams.
“He’s hungry, ready for a new challenge, having had a lot of success in Formula E, he’s a racer. He’s commercially minded, so he understands all aspects of what it takes to be successful in racing, he put all those ingredients together. I think he’s a perfect candidate to run the team for us.”
Brown was asked, why join Hypercar now?
“The strength of our Formula 1 and IndyCar team definitely has an element of that, then also the success of this new platform, and timing is good, so you kind of put that all together.”
While the car is yet to be tested, Brown did hint that a preview will be released soon.
“We’ve not tested it (the car), but it is well underway of development,” he expressed.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the team’s future take shape under Barclay’s leadership and can’t wait to give fans an exclusive preview of our 2027 race car”.
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