McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has confirmed that the Woking brand has already signed drivers for its forthcoming Hypercar programme with United Autosports, and revealed how many full-season drivers it will utilise in the FIA WEC.
Speaking with ELMS TV during Sunday’s 4 Hours of Silverstone, Brown explained that McLaren has already made two signings for what it hopes will be a Le Mans and title-winning stable.
“We want experience for sure, but youth and experience,” he said. “We have a couple of drivers signed that we haven’t announced yet, and we are close on the others.
“I think we are going to go with a formula of two drivers in each car and a third for Le Mans, Qatar and maybe reserve.
“In watching and speaking to the drivers about the majority of the races, which are shorter, we feel a two driver line-up is the way to go. Obviously, that’s not the case at Le Mans, Qatar is 10 hours, but at the other races you could see us with a two-driver line-up.”
Previously, during the opening round of the 2025 FIA WEC season at Qatar, Brown hinted that McLaren’s Formula One drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris may find themselves in a Hypercar at Le Mans in the future. “I’ve talked to Lando (Below) and Oscar about it, and they’ve said they’d love to go race Le Mans. That’s cool, right? I think all these motorsports converging are great,” he said.
On Sunday, he spoke again of their desire to race with McLaren in Hypercar, specifically in a third car at La Sarthe, stating that, “down the road, it will definitely be an option.”
Brown was, of course, with United Autosports during the weekend, spending time with the team and the guests it brought to the race. When asked about the future of United Autosports’ current programmes once it makes its Hypercar debut, he reiterated that the team has no plans to stop competing in LMP2 and LMGT3 around the world.
“It’s something Richard and I are working through. Do you modify? But we will continue to be a racing team in multiple classes,” he added.
“We are doing more racing in America, we want to continue with that, the ELMS series, and Asia, and Richard never talks about scaling back.”
