McLaren Hypercar program readies for its next step forward

McLaren's 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar program is progressing on schedule according to team principal James Barclay, as the team moves towards the start of track testing with its Dallara-based LMDh V6 twin-turbo-powered prototype sometime this spring.

There’s a real sense of energy and excitement about the project in the corridors of the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, which is serving as its epicenter, as there's been a huge amount of progress behind the scenes since the car was launched during Le Mans week last year.

Barclay is at the core of the forward momentum. He has deeply embedded himself in McLaren since departing Jaguar's Formula E program and joining the British brand last summer, leading the recruitment drive and building working relationships with service provider United Autosports and key partners such as Dallara and ATM (Autotecnica Motori).

He brings a wealth of motorsport experience to the Woking brand’s effort to win Le Mans overall for a second time and clinch a Hypercar world championship. His resume is littered with notable stints, from early days in single-make racing with Vauxhall in the mid-1990s as a driver, to jobs at Lotus to establish a motorsport division, to Bentley in the early 2000s during the Le Mans-winning effort, its later GT3 project, and, most recently, Jaguar in Formula E. The reputation he has built along the way prompted McLaren to come knocking and present him with an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“I’ve been really fortunate to work for incredible British car companies, and then when the phone called and it was Zak [Brown, McLaren Racing CEO] to say he’d like me to come and head up the program for McLaren Endurance, it was a hard decision to leave where I was,” he admitted. “But it’s an honor to join McLaren in this incredible era for sports car racing. It’s a very special opportunity, taking something which is very meaningful and writing new chapters of success.”

Driver Mikkel Jensen (left) and team principal James Barclay both bring key experience to McLaren's Hypercar program.

The team's recruitment drive is ongoing, although most key positions were filled months ago. Chris Dyer, for instance, was named as technical director (moving over from McLaren’s previous Formula E division) and Maarten Youngman as technical program director early on.

“There’s a broad talent pool here. We can’t share staff (across racing disciplines) because of financial regulations [in Formula 1], but we have a real benefit if talent moves around between programs,” Barclay noted when asked about the make-up of the Hypercar team from McLaren's side. “We’re on track with the recruitment strategy, which will be at about 100 people [including non-operational] when we’re fully recruited.”

The driver roster is also coming together, starting with yesterday's news that ex-Peugeot factory racer Mikkel Jensen has been signed up and working with McLaren since the dust settled on the 2025 WEC season finale in Bahrain.

“I was not super happy with the performance [at Peugeot], and I thought that I was in a golden time in my career,” Jensen said when asked about the motivation behind the switch of brands. “31 is a good age for an endurance driver, and I felt I wasn’t getting the success I deserved. So I saw McLaren announce the project, and naturally, my eyes went in that direction.

“It was a great fit,” he said when asked about his switch to McLaren. “We started talking, we were on the right page with everything, and it was just a great match. I came here [to MTC] just after my last race in Bahrain and felt the spirit. I saw the boulevard, the atmosphere and the history of the brand. It was emotional.

Jensen is confident his experience can help the team to hit the ground running.

"I bring a lot – three and a half seasons of racing [with Peugeot], the development work I've been a part of before. It's a narrow set of regulations, even though the other car [the 9X8] was an LMH, and this is an LMDh. When I get to drive the McLaren for the first time, I am sure I will feel a lot of similarities and things that don't feel similar to help build something better."