McLaren Racing confirmed the addition of Laurens Vanthoor to its Hypercar program for the 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship. The 2024 world champion in the category joins the British team while keeping his existing contract with Porsche, a brand with which he will remain linked for the Michelin Endurance Cup rounds in IMSA.

Mikkel Jensen was the first driver confirmed for the project and drove the MCL-HY for the first time in Italy. Vanthoor joined the testing program in May 2026, combining those duties with his campaign in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, where he already has two overall victories in the Porsche 963 number 6 of Porsche Penske Motorsport. He won the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. He shares the seat with Kévin Estre and has Matt Campbell as the third driver for the endurance rounds.

The structure of the agreement responds to Porsche's reorganization in endurance racing. The Stuttgart manufacturer closed its full-season official program in the WEC Hypercar at the end of 2025 and reconfigured its presence in sportscars. Vanthoor was concentrated on IMSA, without a seat for Le Mans, and the operation with McLaren filled that void without breaking the contractual link. In 2027 he will contest the full WEC schedule with McLaren and will reduce his participation in IMSA to the three rounds of the Michelin Endurance Cup: Daytona, Sebring, and Petit Le Mans. On those dates he will act as the third driver for Porsche.

"When Porsche Penske Motorsport's WEC program ended, I had to consider which team on the grid gave me the best chance to win. The choice was clearly McLaren Racing," explained Vanthoor. The Belgian was second overall at Le Mans 2025 and has repeatedly stated that this race is the priority goal of this stage of his career.

Photo By Mclaren Cars

James Barclay, director of McLaren Endurance Racing, pointed to the driver's specific experience in sportscars as a differentiating factor for the new project and thanked Porsche for its willingness to facilitate his incorporation into the testing program during 2026.

The McLaren Hypercar program will compete with operational support from United Autosports and a Dallara chassis, powered by a biturbo V6 engine. The Woking team has not competed in a top sportscar category since 1995, when the McLaren F1 GTR took overall victory at Le Mans against prototypes designed specifically for the race.