As previously revealed by RACER, McLaren Automotive has nominated LMP2 team United Autosports to be its LMGT3 customer team for the category’s debut WEC season in 2024, when the championship shifts to a two-class structure.
Subject to McLaren receiving entries for next season in LMGT3, United will represent McLaren at Le Mans for the British brand’s first appearance in the 24 Hours since 1998.
The Anglo-American team, which is co-owned by Richard Dean and McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown, intends to compete with a pair of 720S GT3 EVOs in the LMGT3 class, which will feature a variety of manufacturers and their nominated partner teams.
Due to the restriction on the number of full-season grid slots – which RACER expects to be 36 cars across Hypercar and LMGT3 – each GT3 manufacturer will be restricted to two cars. This suggests that the other teams were understood were in the mix to represent McLaren next season in the WEC (Garage 59, Team Project 1 and Optimum Motorsport) have missed out on their chance.
However, assuming McLaren is granted entries, this nomination also means that United Autosports’ work to find an avenue to remain in the FIA WEC next season has paid off. It had been forced to find a new home in the championship for 2024 due to the LMP2 class being removed from the FIA WEC’s class structure (though there will be an LMP2 class at Le Mans) to make room for the growth in Hypercar and over-subscribed LMGT3 category.
Until very recently, it appeared that United’s 2024 full-season IMSA effort in LMP2 would serve as its flagship program in 2024. United narrowly missed out on two separate bids to run factory WEC Hypercar programs for next season, leaving Dean and Brown unsure if they would be able to get an GT3 program off the ground in time back in the spring.
However, with this solution, United will expand and race in both IMSA and the FIA WEC with high-profile full-season efforts.