Brown confirms McLaren tempted by WEC entry

Zak Brown has confirmed that McLaren are considering entering the World Endurance Championship from next year, as relaxed rules on hypercars open up the championship to more manufacturers. A McLaren F1 GTR won the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours, piloted by JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya.

McLaren were reportedly among a group of manufacturers who lobbied to have a hypercar class added to WEC for 2020-21 and beyond, with Aston martin also poised to enter the Valkyrie model – co-designed with the Red Bull Formula 1 team.

As well as a Formula 1 programme showing green shoots of recovery after a dismal few years, McLaren have forayed into IndyCar recently, but Fernando Alonso failed to qualify for this year's Indianapolis 500.

A full-time entry into the American series was branded unlikely by Brown, who has instead turned his attention to endurance racing.

"Now we've got the rule book, we are seriously looking at bringing McLaren back to endurance racing," Brown is quoted by the Le Mans website.

"We wanted to be able to use a car we already make with technology we already have.

"And it looks like the new regulations will permit that. We like the look of the rules and we are considering taking part in the next WEC.

"If we want to take part in the 2020-21 season, we've no time to lose. Which means we'll be deciding soon.

"If we commit to the WEC, it will be a completely separate campaign to F1."

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