McLaren will compete in the Le Mans 24hr once again when it returns to the legendary endurance race in 2024, with two 720S GT3 race cars run by United Autosports, McLaren’s F1 boss Zak Brown’s other race team. 

Competing in the new LMGT3 class that replaces the GTE category, McLaren and United Autosports will contest each round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, which will see it go head-to-head with Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin.

The 720S GT3 is already a successful racer, competing with customer teams around the world in numerous GT series from the British GT Championship, the VLN series in Germany and at Australia’s legendary Bathurst endurance race to name but a few. This, however, will be the first time a McLaren works team will compete at the highest level of endurance racing. United Autosports, however, are no strangers to endurance racing success, having been one of the first to compete with the original McLaren 12C GT3 car and going on to win in the WEC and at Le Mans with its LMP racers. 

McLaren’s return to Le Mans will be 29 years after the F1 made its debut at the French classic and won, leading to a more concentrated race car development programme that was never intended for Gordan Murray’s road car. The culmination of that process was the F1 GTR Long Tail, which competed in GT1 sports car racing – winning its class at Le Mans in 1997 by 29 laps – until the category's demise in 1998. 

Speaking at the announcement, Michael Leiters, CEO of McLaren Automotive said: ‘Motorsport remains a fundamental part of McLaren’s future of performance strategy, and we have long viewed the WEC as a natural fit for demonstrating the performance capabilities of our cars. This includes a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans that is an intrinsic part of our enduring success in motorsport and in particular, the Triple Crown which is unique to McLaren as a supercar manufacturer and racing car constructor. We have selected United Autosports, who we feel shares our passion for endurance GT racing as well as the McLaren brand and, like McLaren, has a history of success in motorsport.’

McLaren’s announcement comes 24 hours after Aston Martin confirmed it will contest its new Vantage GT3 car at Le Mans in 2024 and the Valkyrie in the hypercar class from 2025.

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