McLaren Racing has confirmed the identity of its first Hypercar recruit for the 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship, with Mikkel Jensen admitting to a feeling of ‘goosebumps’ at joining the iconic British brand.
Running under the McLaren United AS WEC Hypercar Team banner, McLaren Racing will return to the top-tier of international endurance racing next year for the first time in almost three decades.
The team, which combines the skillsets and expertise of McLaren Technology Centre-based McLaren Racing with hugely successful sportscar outfit United Autosports, will spend the upcoming 12 months working on the development of its new Hypercar.
Jensen will play a significant role in that task. The Dane began his professional racing career in 2017, swiftly achieving success in GT categories before stepping up into prototypes. He was crowned in the European Le Mans Series’ LMP3 class in 2019 and in IMSA’s LMP2 division two years later, before being snapped up by Peugeot for its nascent Hypercar effort in 2022. He reached the rostrum in FIA WEC every season from 2023 to 2025, highlighted by a second-place finish at Fuji last September.
“I’m extremely proud to be joining the world championship-winning McLaren family and excited to be part of its Hypercar project from the early stages,” enthused the Aarhus native, who is currently competing for United Autosports in the Asian Le Mans Series and will travel to Daytona’s ‘Roar Before The Rolex 24’ test later this week ahead of IMSA’s 2026 curtain-raising outing at the Florida circuit.
“Stepping onto the boulevard at McLaren Technology Centre gives me goosebumps – it not only brings to life how much history McLaren has in Formula 1, but the 1995 Le Mans-winning F1 GTR reminds me that we have an incredible endurance story to continue.”
Indeed, barely 30 years ago – when Jensen was still just a babe in arms – McLaren triumphed at La Sarthe on its debut in the legendary twice-round-the-clock contest. The manufacturer is the only one ever to have clinched motorsport’s iconic ‘Triple Crown’ – Le Mans, the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 – and over the coming years, it is targeting a repeat performance.
To do that, the company will need to overcome a high-quality field of hungry Hypercar rivals, with no fewer than eight major global marques on the grid in 2026 and Ford similarly set to swell the fray in 12 months’ time. That sets the scene for what could well be the most fiercely-disputed campaign in the championship’s history. James Barclay – Team Principal of McLaren United AS WEC Hypercar Team – says Jensen is a key part of the puzzle.
“Announcing Mikkel is another important milestone in the formation of our new Hypercar team,” Barclay commented. “He has already proven himself as one of the most well-rounded sportscar racing drivers in the world, and he brings with him a wealth of experience from the Hypercar category.
“We will enter the World Endurance Championship and Le Mans in what will arguably be the most competitive season of all time. We are delighted to have a driver of Mikkel’s calibre, experience and future potential. Like us, he is a true racer and is therefore a great fit with our philosophy on people and culture, which has been integral to McLaren Racing’s world championship-winning success in Formula 1. Our World Endurance Championship team is coming together nicely, and Mikkel is a fantastic addition.”
McLaren’s new prototype is set to be revealed later this year, while in a first-of-its-kind collaboration, the design freedom afforded by FIA WEC’s technical regulations has paved the way for a customer track variant of the Hypercar – codenamed Project: Endurance – to be jointly conceived by McLaren Racing and McLaren Automotive, presenting a rare opportunity to own and drive a cutting-edge Le Mans Hypercar.
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