McLaren Not Ruling Out Future IMSA GTP Effort – Sportscar365

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI

McLaren has not ruled out a future IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship program with its new factory LMDh effort, although it won’t come any earlier than 2028 according to McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown.

The British manufacturer confirmed further details of its FIA World Endurance Championship program on Friday in Le Mans, including Dallara as its chassis partner and James Barclay as the team principal for the McLaren United AS effort.

While the two-car Hypercar class program will debut in the WEC in 2027, Brown stressed that its full focus, for at least the first year, will remain on the world championship.

“Right now we’re laser-focused on WEC,” Brown told reporters. “You wouldn’t want to go into two championships at the same time.

“We really like IMSA racing. North America is very important to us. We’re moving to a new race shop in Indianapolis, so it will be something we’ll consider.

“We’d like to do it. But one step at a time.”

When asked by Sportscar365 if it could come as early as 2028, in the car’s second season of competition, Brown said: “It wouldn’t be any earlier than ’28.”

Brown added that a potential foray into WeatherTech Championship with a Michelin Endurance Cup-only program would also be considered.

“I think those are all the things that we’ll be asking ourselves,” he said.

McLaren, which will unveil a mock-up of its car on Saturday at Circuit de la Sarthe, has essentially ruled out future customer cars.

“It’s not on our plans at the moment,” said Brown. “Sitting here today it’s nothing that we’re really interested in. But I guess never say never.

“But it’s not part of the plan because then you’ve got to support the customers. We’re not an entity, from a racing standpoint, in offering customer racing.”

When asked if a possible WeatherTech Championship program would also be run by United Autosports, a team he co-owns with Richard Dean, Brown said it hasn’t been decided.

“We haven’t gotten that far on our thinking,” he said. First we’ll need to decide when and if and then you get into the how.

“Sitting here today, I don’t see it not being a factory program.”

Brown said the attraction of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was the primary driver behind choosing WEC over the WeatherTech Championship.

“At the end of the day. It’s one of the biggest races in the world,” he said. “We’re a European racing team and we want to be winning the ‘Triple Crown’ again.”

United Autosports to Continue Customer Programs Alongside McLaren Hypercar Effort

Dean, meanwhile, reaffirmed plans for United Autosports to continue its customer-based efforts alongside its new factory operations of the McLaren Hypercar program.

The British squad currently competes in the WEC’s LMGT3 category with a pair of McLaren 720S GT3 Evos, the European Le Mans Series and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in LMP2, as well as a planned return to the Asian Le Mans Series this winter.

“They all play a part in making us ready,” said Dean. “It’s a good opportunity to bring some people through that achieved the success we’ve had at Le Mans and Daytona.

“We’ll probably keep a level of customer racing. You look at the [likes of] AF Corse’s and they’ve all done it successfully. We’d look to do the same thing.

“We’re not racing here until 2027, so in ’26, you’re going to see exactly the same thing from United.”

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John