McLaren has already completed 30-hour endurance test with LMDh challenger

McLaren has already successfully come through a 30-hour endurance simulation with the MCL-HY LMDh, as it gears up for its entry into the World Endurance Championship Hypercar ranks next season.

The British manufacturer has revealed that the new LMDh hybrid prototype, developed in conjunction with Dallara Automobili, completed more than 30 hours in the test designed to replicate the distance of the Le Mans 24 Hours WEC blue riband at the Aragon circuit in Spain in July. 

The endurance simulation came less than three months after the MCL-HY was given a shakedown at Varano in Italy at the beginning of May and represented only its third full test after outings at Imola and Magny-Cours.

Testing of the McLaren Hypercar continued with a further three days of running at Silverstone last week. 

James Barclay, executive director of McLaren Endurance Racing and team principal of the WEC operation run in conjunction with United Autosports, explained that there were no “show-stoppers” over the course of the test at the 3.32-mile MotorLand Aragon track. 

“There were things we stopped to check, but we didn’t stop for three hours and go back out,” said Barclay. “We ran it as though we were running a race: if there were things we wanted to stop and check because we didn’t want to damage something, we would do a quick stop, and check and go.”

McLaren Hypercar

Photo by: McLaren

Barclay would not reveal the mileage the solo McLaren LMDh completed during the test because, he said, the organisation didn’t want to “give too much away”. But he did disclose that the car had already completed the typical distance of a regular six-hour WEC prior to Aragon.

“The fact that this early in our test programme we have been able to do our first 30 hours is really positive, with lots of great learning from it,” he added.

Further endurance simulations are planned, but Barclay wouldn’t go into details of McLaren’s forthcoming test schedule. 

He explained that it was important for McLaren to undertake an endurance test early in its development programme “to see if we had something fundamental we wanted to address”.

Barclay stressed the MCL-HY is running an all-new three-litre twin-turbo V6, developed in partnership with AutoTecnica Motori in Italy, whereas some of its competitors started out with internal combustion engines developed out of existing powerplants. 

The Aragon test was also important in terms of team building, he explained: “We have got United staff, staff from Formula E and Formula 1, and you have got to gel together. At the end of that test the camaraderie as a group was fantastic; we are only in our fifth test, but as a group it looks like we have been operating a lot longer.” 

McLaren Hypercar

Photo by: McLaren

Barclay revealed that the aerodynamics of the car are unlikely to change significantly before its homologation at the end of the season. “Visually there won’t be any major changes to what you see now,” he stated.  

So far Mikkel Jensen and Laurens Vanthoor, the first two drivers announced for next year, and Gregoire Saucy and Richard Verschoor, both members of the McLaren driver development programme, plus United stalwart Ben Hanley have undertaken testing duties.

Barclay revealed that McLaren “have signed more” drivers - understood to be two – but will not be announcing them imminently in respect of their existing contracts. 

“We have a core group of drivers we are super-excited about, but we have some seats that we wanted to leave open for a bit longer while we had a chance to do some wider assessment,” he explained. “We don’t need to rush that decision.”

The decision-making process will also include whether the McLaren United Autosports team fields just two drivers per car in the six-hour WEC races or the three it will run at Le Mans and the scheduled 10-hour events in Qatar and Bahrain. 

“There are pros and cons, and we have an emerging view on that,” he said.