McLaren will return to this legendary race after a 28-year absence

McLaren is gearing up for its return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A few days ago, the British marque announced its intention to take part in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2027 for the first time in nearly 30 years.

This looks like the natural next step in McLaren’s attempt to remind everyone the company is, first and foremost, a race car manufacturer.

It’s working, considering they’re now winning in Formula 1 as well.

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Why McLaren is returning to Le Mans

McLaren went on hiatus for a few years between the early 2000s and 2010s.

Throughout that time, they were mostly operating behind the scenes, mainly because McLaren worked alongside Mercedes for nearly two decades.

This partnership gave the world some pretty impressive cars, including the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.

But it wasn’t enough for the British automaker, who eventually decided to bid farewell to Mercedes and go solo.

In 2011, the company launched the McLaren 12C, this time with no help from Mercedes and, right around the same time, the marque decided to launch its own Formula 1 team.

In 2024, after years of steady progress, the British team won its first Constructors’ Championship since 1998.

Having already taken part in Formula E and the IndyCar Series, among others, 24 Hours of Le Mans was the next natural step for the brand.

McLaren last won Le Mans in 1995, and hopefully it won’t take too long to score another win.

Like the olden days

Back in the day, supercar manufacturers would mostly focus on building race cars, not road cars.

For example, Enzo Ferrari, famously couldn’t care less about selling road cars, he only did it to fund racing.

Things changed for a while, and everyone seemed to be going in the exact opposite direction.

But things are changing again now.

Making sure your name is on the grid of the world’s most important motorsport events is a way to validate what you’re doing with street-legal cars.

From Aston Martin with the Valkyrie built for Le Mans to Cadillac returning to F1, not a week goes by without an announcement along these lines.

If you go back far enough, you’ll find that nearly every luxury brand in existence has competed in some form of sport.

Most people may be shocked to hear that brands like Pagani, Volvo, and even Rolls-Royce made unexpected ventures into motorsport in the past.

Just imagine Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso at the wheel of a Volvo F1 car or a Rolls-Royce F1 car.

That’d be hilarious, but also awesome.

We can’t wait to see what McLaren can achieve at Le Mans.

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