After announcing the name of its 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship contender just last week, McLaren has now taken the covers off the MCL-HY ahead of a planned test programme throughout 2026.
Built to the more budget-friendly LMDh regulations, which allows McLaren to base its vehicle on a chassis provided by one of the four recognised constructors, the MCL-HY will make its test debut this month as it looks to join WEC at the beginning of 2027. While the car can compete in both the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, there’s no indications on when an IMSA campaign might come to pass with McLaren focussing on WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
It’s with that in mind that McLaren revealed the MCL-HY in a livery derived from that of Bruce McLaren’s own Can-Am champion McLaren M6A, a development of which the company founder had intended to race at Le Mans — though the M6GT never came to pass in that form.
Underneath the MCL-HY is a chassis constructed by Dallara, which has already found race- and championship-winning success in the BMW M Hybrid B8 and Cadillac V-Series.R machines, while the LMDh regulations also mean that the car sports the spec MGU hybrid system that powers the rear wheels alone. An unspecified twin-turbocharged V6 completes the offering, with the MCL-HY producing 697hp in a 1,030kg rig before Balance of Performance (BOP) considerations.
The arrival of the MCL-HY to the 2027 FIA WEC field will mark McLaren’s return to the top category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans after more than 30 years away. Although customer teams campaigned McLaren F1s through to 1998 the only factory-supported race was in 1995, when McLaren’s own GTR test chassis #01R took overall victory through the Ueno Clinic-backed Lanzante Motorsport team.
It will also make McLaren the only manufacturer competing in all three layers of the Triple Crown of Motorsport come 2027, given its F1 activities and NTT IndyCar Series entries.
In addition to the reveal of the race car, McLaren has also presented its track-day variant as announced back in 2025 under the Project: Endurance name. Now called the MCL-HY GTR — reflecting the GTR name previous applied to the F1, P1, and Senna — this will be developed alongside the race car and be produced in an unknown but limited number for paying clients.
However the GTR won’t be a hybrid, with the LMDh-mandated MGU system deleted. That’ll result in a lower overall weight, while the engine — noted to be a 2.9-litre, twin-turbocharged V6, and therefore likely to be derived from that of the Artura — is wound up to around 720hp, so that the GTR will have a better power-to-weight ratio than its racing sibling.
Buyers will be treated to a two-year track driving programme which will take them to six events on international circuits with full factory support and driver training, while even before the cars are delivered late in 2027 they’ll be invited along to be inside the development of the MCL-HY and the build-up to — as well as attendance at — the 2027 24 Hours of Le Mans.