McLaren’s ambitions to repeat its 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours victory remain on track and have been given a boost by the extension of the current prototype regulations until 2029.

Zak Brown, boss of McLaren Racing, has stated that an entry into either the Hypercar or GTP classes of the respective World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championships is “more when than if”.

He explained that the decision to extend the lifecycle of Le Mans Hypercar and LMDh regulations by two years beyond 2027 announced last week has given McLaren “more breathing space”.

“Costs in all motorsport are critically important and I think the extension definitely helps our business model that we have laid out internally,” said Brown, who has spoken openly about McLaren’s aspirations at the the pinnacle of sportscar racing since taking up his current role in 2018.

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“We would have to work on a two-year lead time: if we were talking about ’26 we would need to make a decision tomorrow.

“You wouldn’t want to enter a championship Le Mans in its last season.”

Brown revealed that McLaren is “looking at all the scenarios” with regard to its first top-flight sportscar campaign since the F1 GTR programme of the 1990s.

Zak Brown, CEO, McLaren Racing, celebrates victory with his team

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“But clearly if you are in sportscar racing you want to win Le Mans,” he said.

Brown has previously stated that McLaren’s ambitions lay in the WEC with a factory team of LMDhs and potentially customer cars in IMSA.

“LMDh would be the more favourable category,” he confirmed.

What cannot be known is whether there will be room in the WEC for another manufacturer in Hypercar later in the decade: the grid is likely to be at capacity next year despite its expansion to 40 cars.

McLaren’s LMGT3 class campaign with United Autosports in the WEC this year could be crucial in paving the way for a step up in class, explained Brown.

“We need commercial partners and the exposure we get in GT3 will give us a sense of what the commercial market is and how much support we can get,” he said.

Brown also stressed it will be important that a top-flight sportscar programme doesn’t distract from McLaren Racing’s other activities in Formula 1, IndyCar, Formula E and Extreme E.

“If we take on another project we have to make sure it doesn’t disrupt our other activities,” he said.

“We are not far away from feeling we could take on another project without diluting our F1 team or IndyCar team or our electric teams.

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“We are turning a profit as a racing team; McLaren Racing is very healthy, and then it is just about timing.”

Michael Leiters, CEO of McLaren Automotive, insisted that none of the key technical decisions about a potential LMDh project have been made.

That includes the choice of engine: the unsuitability of its M840T road car V8 was one reason why McLaren’s prototype aspirations have remained on hold.

“First we have to decide when and how to do it, and then we come to the engine,” he explains.

“It would be perfect to have an engine in line with our road car programmes — that would be our dream — but we would never compromise our competitiveness.”

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2024 marked the second year of the merged Le Mans Hypercar and LMDh regulations into the WEC’s Hypercar category, ruled by a Balance of Performance, but LMDh cars are yet to grab their first win at the Le Mans 24 Hours after an extremely competitive race this year.

Together with veteran Richard Westbrook, Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn had achieved a third-place finish in their Cadillac V-Series.R in the 2023 contest, led by the #51 Ferrari and the #8 Toyota. But this time around, only LMH machinery made it to the podium at Circuit de la Sarthe – the #50 Ferrari took the win from the #7 Toyota and the #51 Ferrari.

The polesitting #6 Porsche LMDh was just one second off the podium, with Andre Lotterer’s fears that team-mate Kevin Estre’s «exceptional» pole lap «maybe is not 100% representative of the performance» somewhat justified.

Meanwhile, the #2 Cadillac LMDh now shared by Bamber and Lynn with Alex Palou was in contention for a win for a long time, leading after 21 hours. However, it suffered from higher-than-average tyre degradation in mixed track conditions and ended up seventh under the chequered flag.

«At one point, it was looking very good, but in the end, I think Ferrari and Toyota just had a little bit more pace in all conditions,» Alex Lynn told Motorsport.com.

«That was ultimately the difference. At certain points we could match them, but never have something extra. Also, they were always very, very competitive. I think we were looking okay for a P3, but in the end we had a bad last hour or so, and that was it.»

«The Hypercars are very strong with the four-wheel drive, that’s why they’re all on the podium», Earl Bamber added when speaking to Motorsport.com. «It’s hard to fight against.»

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Toyota, Ferrari and Peugeot’s four-wheel-drive set-up comes in particularly handy in wet conditions, due to the extra traction this provides compared to the rear-wheel-drive LMDhs. In this particular instance, although a number of showers spiced up the race, this was partly mitigated by the safety car neutralising the race when the rain was at its worst, between 3:45am and 8:10am.

LMH cars were faster in all sectors in the race, with two Toyotas and two Ferraris leading the way on the Mulsanne straight and its two chicanes – the leading LMDh was the #2 Cadillac driven by Palou [1m20.048s], nearly three tenths off Sebastien Buemi’s #8 Toyota [1m19.786].

In the third sector, comprised of many corners with various speed profiles, Alessandro Pier Guidi was fastest in the #51 Ferrari with a 1m35.364s time, but Porsche’s Laurens Vanthoor and Cadillac’s Palou were just 0.085s and 0.089s off respectively.

Of course, the fastest race times were set in dry conditions, and with no session being run fully in wet conditions, analysing fully the advantage enjoyed by LMH cars is tricky.

Porsche’s Frederic Makowiecki admitted to Motorsport.com after the race that the German constructor was «lacking a little bit to be able to compete with Toyota and Ferrari. Not much, but a little too much.

«The difference is [Ferrari] can overtake you, but you can’t overtake them! This is getting complicated: we’re not quite on an equal footing.»

The aforementioned sector 2 times on the Mulsanne straight tend to corroborate the French veteran’s analysis. On the other hand, three cars recorded a 344.5km/h top speed in the race – both Toyotas and… Felipe Nasr’s #4 Porsche. But it was the only instance when one of the German cars went above 339.1km/h over the 24 hours, with the Brazilian driver most likely catching a big tow.

Looking at each car’s average top five speed-trap entries, the picture becomes clearer with both Toyotas on 342.6km/h and 342.1km/h and two Ferraris on 340.9km/h and 340.6km/h. The top LMDh becomes the #36 Alpine on 339.1km/h, with the quickest Porsche reaching 338.9km/h thanks to Jota’s #12 customer entry and no Cadillac doing any better than 336km/h for the #2 car.

In the end, there is little regret in the American camp. «Ultimately, I think this race we maximised,» Lynn added. «I was really proud of how we did. We had, I think, a really strong race. It was just Ferrari and Toyota in particular.

«Obviously I know we got beaten by two Porsches, but I don’t feel like they were better. We lost to them, but Ferrari and Toyota were better.»