Barclay: McLaren ‘Doesn’t Have to Rush’ Finalizing Driver Lineup

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI

McLaren United AS ‘doesn’t have to rush’ to finalize the driver lineup for its FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar debut according to team principal James Barclay, who has revealed the British manufacturer has already signed additional drivers beyond the already confirmed Mikkel Jensen.

Announced earlier this month, the ex-Peugeot WEC ace will be among the drivers that will begin on-track testing of the Dallara-chassied LMDh car, which is currently slated for May.

While a number of other drivers, including Jensen’s former Peugeot teammates Malthe Jakobsen and Paul di Resta, have been linked to the program, Barclay said they’ll have no shortage of drivers who will take part in the early development phases.

“We don’t have to rush. We have a test program to assess,” Barclay told reporters during last weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“But we’re in the fortunate position of having a fantastic driver pool which we can consider from the DDP (McLaren Driver Development Program) as well alongside that experience that we want to bring into the team.

“We say that with the signing of Mikkel… is fantastic. We want to bring Hypercar experience into the team, for a team like us who has a huge amount of experience but we haven’t been in sports car racing for a very long time.

“That Hypercar-experienced driver group will be important within our total lineup. It’s fair to say that a combination of that and always keeping our eye open on youth and talent and we’ve seen the success of that with the Formula 1 team.”

Barclay outlined that Jensen, who is competing with United Autosports in the LMP2 ranks this year, will be a “core” part of the development program.

“We have enough drivers to support our test program. Mikkel will be a core part of that as we said already. We’ve signed other drivers, which is great.”

When asked to clarify if some of those signed drivers may not yet be available to drive McLaren’s yet-to-be-named Hypercar until their contracts with their existing teams expire, Barclay said “correct.”

“We’ll have a combination of experienced Hypercar [drivers] but also using an experienced sport car racing pool as part of our testing program, who we are assessing to have a role with the team as well,” he added.

When asked by Sportscar365 if McLaren could opt for a primary lineup of four drivers, similar to the approach that Genesis Magma Racing and Ford Racing are expected to take with its new Hypercar programs, Barclay said they’ve had “lots of conversations” on this topic.

“Three drivers, two drivers, there’s pros and cons,” he said of the lineup for the six-hour WEC races.

“The good news is that we have time for that and I think it also depends on the lineups and how we approach it. We have a flexible approach to that.

“Especially as we get ready for Le Mans, we want to make sure the driver group is working really well so there’s times were we will want to run three drivers to make sure we’re fully ready for Le Mans.

“Then where we think strategically it’s better to have two, we’ll have that option.”

Barclay confirmed they will initially have six drivers and a reserve for the 2027 Hypercar program.

Brown “Would Enjoy” Helping Alonso Complete Triple Crown

McLaren will be the only team to have entries in Formula 1, the NTT IndyCar Series and WEC beginning in 2027, leading to the question if any single driver could be in the mix to attempt the ‘Triple Crown’ of races in the same year.

For the first time since the early 2000s, there will be no clash between the Monaco Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500, although a F1 race falls on the same weekend as this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The 2027 calendars for all three series have yet to be released.

“No one’s shown a strong desire to do the Indy 500,” revealed McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. “I would enjoy helping Fernando [Alonso] complete the Triple Crown. That would be amazing.

“I bug him about it all the time, every time I see him. But he’s not there yet. He’s still laser-focused on F1.

“But now that we have a car that can win Indy, that would be fun if we could pull it off.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John