The 30th anniversary of McLaren’s overall victory at Le Mans with the F1 GTR back in 1995 is still a year away, but for fans of the Woking-based brand, there’s plenty to get excited about right now. It’s race day at La Sarthe and for the first time since ’98 McLaren is on the entry list, with three LMGT3 EVOs operated by United Autosports and Inception Racing.
As a result, for its full-season WEC partner United – a team with class winning pedigree at this event – this weekend is a hugely important one, and not just for its championship hopes.
It is still early days for the team’s globetrotting programme with McLaren, but expectations are high, senior management from McLaren are on-site and the aim is clear: Leave France with trophies in hand.
To this point, life in LMGT3 has been far from easy for Richard Dean and Zak Brown’s Yorkshire-based team. This is a programme that came together “three months late” last year, leaving it with a mountain to climb over the winter months.
Signing drivers and organising a test programme on short notice proved a complex task. As did learning the ins and outs of the LMGT3 formula in the build up to the opening round.
LMGT3 cars are more complex than standard GT3 cars, with the addition of torque sensors, mandated power curves and virtual energy tanks as part of a more sophisticated Balance of Performance system. It’s made the start of the season a real challenge for all the teams involved.
On top of all this, it also shouldn’t be ignored that United still competes in LMP2 across multiple championships alongside this new adventure, and has added a full-time multi-car IMSA LMP2 programme this year to run parallel with its longstanding ELMS effort.
Scaling up like this is a colossal task. Yet Richard Dean and Co have taken it in their stride, working methodically to ensure the team can operate three programmes in three major international championships at the same time, without stretching themselves too thin.
A major (self-made) advantage is that United now works out of two high-level facilities, one on each side of the Atlantic. This has made a huge difference.
Its Wakefield, UK facility serves as a base for its WEC, ELMS and historic racing projects, while the new shop in Mooresville, N.C. houses its IMSA team via a partnership with Jr III Racing. It’s a truly impressive set-up, one which few private teams can worldwide can match.
On the face of it, due to Zak Brown’s roles as a co-owner of United and CEO of McLaren Racing, United may seem like the default choice for McLaren when choosing a partner team for the WEC. But it wasn’t that simple.
The pitching process, which DSC understands involved four credible teams, was lengthy and complex. Ultimately, what sealed it was that UA offered something that none of the other teams in the room could: facilities on two continents, a laundry list of major race and title wins in European and global competition and a longstanding association with ACO racing.
The latter part was crucial, because getting space on the LMGT3 grid was never a guarantee for McLaren, as it was unable to gain priority via a Hypercar programme. It therefore needed to put together the case that United Autosports — which had come close to securing a factory Hypercar deal more than once over the past two years — deserved to remain in the WEC for a fifth season in the wake of the LMP2 class being removed.
In the end, McLaren’s pitch paid off, it was granted spaces on the WEC grid and here we are, in the thick of a Le Mans return for the storied brand.
Since receiving its first chassis last October, it’s been all-systems-go. Jakob Andreasen, United’s technical director — whose background prior to joining the team includes stints in Formula 1 with Force India, McLaren and Williams and in the FIA WEC with Toyota Gazoo Racing — has been satisfied with the team’s progress.
“It’s been intense as we have new technology to contend with,” he told DSC. “The power and energy management from the torque sensors is new and as a concept is fantastic. But as with any new technology, there’s uncertainty and added complexity that we’ve had to work with McLaren on.
“And it’s been even tougher for us because many of the manufacturers in the class are already in Hypercar and therefore had previous insight into torque sensors going in, because they’re part of that ruleset too.
“Thankfully, we are happy and the drivers have been happy with the car’s base setup and handling characteristics. That’s enabled us to exploit the car’s performance well. It has also allowed us to focus on software development in the background. This is an area of GT3 racing that is rarely talked about. It has open software so there is potential for developing systems on the car.
“With torque sensors, virtual energy and mandated power curves, there’s nothing really you can do to make the car faster in terms of downforce, power and energy yourself. But there is potential for driver aids in order to make their life easier with more information being shown on the driver display. For instance, this helps drivers manage tyres and car temperatures over a stint so we are always in the right performance window.”
As the team has become more familiar with the finer details of operating a WEC GT programme, strides forward have been taken consistently. The Prologue test and opening race at Qatar were a baptism of fire, though, the two GT3 EVOs coming home 13th and 14th on their race debut.
“We were all a bit overwhelmed,” team co-owner Richard Dean admitted. “In Qatar, there was so much happening in a short period and having the first race in the Middle East, with all the shipping requirements was so difficult.
“A big part of it was kit. When you’re in a category for years and years you build up kit and spares, so you can go testing while shipping cars to races. This time we were sending cars off while we were still trying to gear up.”
Since then, progress has been steady. Imola saw the #95 of Josh Caygill, Nico Pino and Marino Sato score the team its first points, then at Spa — the red-flagged and extended Le Mans dress rehearsal — the #59 of James Cottingham, Nicolas Costa and Gregoire Saucy finished just shy of the podium in fourth.
“It was two significant steps in a row,” Dean says, “and if you’d have said to us in Qatar that by the time we were at the third race, we’d be capable of qualifying on the front row and leading the race, I’m not sure I’d have believed it. It’s a credit to the team.”
The team’s WEC sporting manager Charlie Kemp also feels the hard work is paying off.
“There have been curveballs thrown at us at all three races so far, but we’ve taken them in our stride because we are always looking at areas where there is for room for improvement,” he told DSC.
“The jump we made through the issues we had at Qatar, to fighting for a podium at Spa, has been massive. The car can do the job. We know that. We’ve just had to strengthen our knowledge to get the most out of it.
“There is just so much new with the ruleset that’s alien to McLaren and the team. But we have moved through this very quickly and we feel focused on getting a result at Le Mans rather than surviving it.
“The task has been big for us because you’d be surprised how different a GT3 and an LMGT3 car are. And for McLaren too — we’ve had to work closely with them. They’ve been very consistent in their level of support.”
LMGT3 as a whole has been gradually heating up. Spa produced the best race for the new formula so far. It was a race that included a lead change on the final lap.
Here at La Sarthe, the expectation is we will see more of the same. There is precious little GT3 data on the circuit for the teams to refer to going in. There should also be an opportunity to truly stretch the envelope on tire life with Goodyear’s F1 Eagle Super Sports for the first time, experimenting with triple and quad stints overnight.
It will all be fascinating to track through tonight and into tomorrow morning.
“At Le Mans, you can extend stints and buy yourself strategic time, but you have to be careful,” Andreasen explained.
“You need to maintain temperatures because you cannot change compounds like you can in Hypercar. You can’t go soft at night and high during the day, so everyone will need to be careful not to drop out of the window, despite the fact that deg is low.
“We’ll need to be clever during the track time throughout the week so we make the right calls.”
Strolling through United Autosports’ Wakefield base with the GT3 EVOs in their final stages of preparation earlier this month, underscored that nothing about United’s WEC commitment with McLaren screams “one-year wonder.” This is a team that does nothing by half measures and takes great pride in its work.
“To represent McLaren in motorsport is a privilege. It’s a name that has many victories in different categories,” Dean says when asked how it feels to be handed the responsibility of representing a brand with so much heritage in such an important event.
“The focus for us, of course, is to replicate the famous victory at Le Mans. That lands on our shoulders, and there’s a lot of expectation around the brand going back after such a successful period in the mid-’90s.
“We are not here to make any definitive claims that we are going to win right now, but we are going to give it a good go. There’s natural pressure because McLaren is doing so well in motorsport, winning in F1, and finishing on the podium in IndyCar and Formula E recently. So all eyes are on us. But thankfully we are working with a partner that is realistic.”
Over the years United has proven time and time again in LMP competition that it is capable of beating anyone. It has LMP2 titles in the WEC, European and Asian Le Mans Series and a Le Mans class win on its résumé.
Now, with the support of McLaren for a fight against teams all represening other blue-chip manufacturers, we will find out if it can deliver the goods yet again, but this time in GT3 racing at the highest level.
“With this effort, we’re taking on the motorsport departments at BMW, Ferrari, Porsche and General Motors,” Dean concludes.
“It’s a big deal. And we know that if we are successful we can grow everything. We can grow our team and McLaren’s motorsport side in sports car racing.
“It’s an exciting time.”
