Barclay: McLaren Entering “Next Stage” of Testing Program

Photo: McLaren

McLaren is set to enter the “next stage” in its testing program with the MCL-HY according to McLaren Endurance Racing executive director James Barclay, who has already earmarked a full calendar for on-track development of the LMDh-based prototype.

The British manufacturer, which completed a successful two-day rollout at Varano on May 4-5, is set to conduct its first full test at Imola at the end of this month.

Mikkel Jensen and newly confirmed driver Laurens Vanthoor will be part of the test, which will kick off a series of outings across Europe and the “intention” to test in the Middle East as well, but later this year according to Barclay.

“From that perspective, we’ve got a good test calendar and our plan is now to hopefully get through that,” he told assembled reporters at the recent 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

“There’s a long road ahead. We have our normal test. Each test is 2-3-4 days and we have endurance testing this year as well.

“There’s a lot of miles to do and that’s the intention that we go through that a step at a time.

“The first step has been good but we’re under no illusion there will be challenges along the way. That’s what developing is going to be about.”

Barclay revealed that its testing schedule is already “done and booked” for the year.

“It’s a combination of circuits on the WEC calendar and some that aren’t because they just serve really well as test venues,” he explained.

“Portimao is a great example. We will go test in Portimao because of the characteristics of that track are really useful for us to test there.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s not on the calendar.”

He added they have multiple endurance tests spaced throughout the year.

“Now that we’ve done the shakedown, our next focus is getting the car fully stressed on individual day tests,” he said. “Our focus will be just on doing single-day tests [at first].

“Once we come past that next milestone in the program and we’re comfortable, we’ll go full endurance [testing].

“We start quite early with our first endurance [test] because we need to get there and prove it out and see where we have any issues or weak spots.

“We’re keen to do that sooner rather than later so we don’t have a great test program ad the first time we try and go and do a 24 or 30-hour test, all of a sudden we discover those new nuances that only crop up after 20 hours.

“That’s what this sport is about. It’s all great if you can be really effective and fast and efficient for 22 hours but if you fail in the 23rd or 24th hour, it’s a bit pointless.

“So we’re keen to get to that sooner rather than later.”

Barclay said the staffing from operational partner United Autosports is “largely” already there with just a “few final roles” to be finalized this month, primarily in the race engineering side.

He estimates the team size will be just under 100 staff.

McLaren Leaning on Development Driver Pool for Initial Test Program

While Jensen and Vanthoor are the only confirmed race drivers for 2027, McLaren will also be utilizing two members of its Driver Development Program, Gregoire Saucy and Richard Verschoor, as well as longtime United driver Ben Hanley, in the development phase.

“It’s good for us to have a combination of youth in here in the mix,” said Barclay. “We’re not only here for one or two years. It’s a longer-term view from our perspective.

“Having drivers around us, at a younger point in their career, that’s a positive, long-term, regardless. It’s nice to have them supporting our test program.

“Right now if you want to get a full lineup of experienced Hypercar drivers, you can’t have them for your test program because they have other race contracts.

“There’s a combination of ‘Yes, ones that can join us like Mikkel, it’s fantastic. But then we also have younger drivers who have an opportunity to be with us in the future but also an opportunity to support our test program.”

When asked by Sportscar365 if any of the McLaren development drivers could end up with race seats for next year, Barclay said it’s “too early to say.”

“The fact they’re in the car testing with us is the best place to be to have that opportunity as well,” he said.

“Right now it’s a test program to run and that’s the focus. We want drivers in who can help us achieve what we need to achieve. That’s really, really key.

“Our final decisions on drivers will then come as we go through this process.”

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