MCLAREN’S PROJECT: ENDURANCE – A NEW ERA OF HYPERCAR OWNERSHIP
McLaren Project Endurance is an ownership programme that gives a small group of private clients access to a client track variant of the MCL-HY GTR, the Le Mans Hypercar McLaren will campaign in the 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship. This is not a road car inspired by a race car. It is a car that shares its race-built 2.9-litre V6 twin-turbo hybrid powertrain, Xtrac 7-speed sequential gearbox and carbon/carbon disk brakes with the actual car entering WEC competition. For the first time since the Le Mans-winning F1 GTR in 1995, a client can own a variant of the machine McLaren is fielding for outright victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
What the Programme Includes
Ownership through Project Endurance encompasses more than the car itself. Each selected participant receives a two-year driving programme spanning six events at world-class race circuits, with support from McLaren's professional drivers, race engineers and pit crew. Participants gain access to McLaren Endurance Racing's WEC preparation from the inside: factory visits, technical briefings and the kind of proximity to a front-running motorsport operation that is simply not available through any other means. At the Le Mans 24 Hours itself, MCL-HY GTR owners are given full VIP hospitality access and direct insight from within the McLaren Hypercar Team's operation. The programme is structured to give clients an immersive understanding of what it takes to build, develop and race a machine at the highest level of endurance motorsport.
The MCL-HY GTR: A Race Car You Can Drive
The MCL-HY GTR is built in partnership with Dallara, one of the most respected constructors in professional motorsport. The hybrid powertrain architecture meets FIA LMH (Le Mans Hypercar) regulations, which govern the 2027 WEC field McLaren is entering alongside manufacturers including Ferrari and Toyota. The majority of the client track car replicates the competition specification directly, making it one of the most technically authentic customer racing programmes ever offered. Unlike GT3 or GT4 programmes where customer cars are tuned-down derivatives of a racing original, the MCL-HY GTR shares its core engineering with the race car at the highest tier of endurance competition.
The Triple Crown Ambition
McLaren Racing now fields cars in Formula 1, INDYCAR and WEC simultaneously, giving the team a genuine theoretical shot at motorsport's Triple Crown in a single season: victory at the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. No manufacturer has achieved all three in one year. McLaren's 1995 Le Mans win with the F1 GTR is the closest the brand has come to completing the set. Project Endurance clients are not passive observers of that ambition; they are participants, in the pit garage and on the same circuits where the campaign unfolds.
TheArsenale's F1 memorabilia collection includes authentic McLaren race items, among them the McLaren-Honda MP4/4 full-scale tribute and the 1988 McLaren MP4/4 steering wheel recreation, both referencing the era when McLaren last dominated the world's most prestigious circuits. For the full details of Project Endurance, visit McLaren's official programme page. Autoevolution's coverage of the announcement is available at autoevolution.com.
Photo: McLaren
