United Autosports will take a year out of the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2026 as the team prepares for its Hypercar debut in 2027. Garage 59 will assume responsibility for McLaren Automotive’s two-car 720S LMGT3 WEC entry for next season.
United Autosports, co-owned by Richard Dean and McLaren CEO Zak Brown, announced in April 2026 that it would be moving up to the Hypercar class with a two-car entry in 2027.
Speaking at the start of the 2025 WEC season, Zak Brown said: “We’re back. A lot comes into play when you make a decision like this – how we’re doing in Formula 1, our Indycar team, our automotive business – and things have really never been better, so the timing is definitely good.
“With the rules that the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, the World Endurance Championship and IMSA have come up with, everyone has voted with their cars and look at the field – it’s amazing with all the manufacturers, the drivers, the competition. This is a very exciting time in endurance racing!”
United Autosports made its debut in the FIA WEC in the 2019/20 season with an LMP2 entry piloted by Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque. The duo drove the #22 ORECA to four victories in class, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and won the drivers and LMP2 teams titles.
The team expanded to two LMP2 entries for the 2022 season and went on to finish third and seventh in the teams standings, the season’s best result being a class win for the #23 car driven by Paul di Resta, Oliver Jarvis and Joshue Pierson at the opening round at Sebring.
When the LMP2 class was removed from WEC rounds, the Wakefield-based squad entered a duo of McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evos and in its first year of competition finished 9th and 18th in the drivers standings. In 2025, the team achieved its first victory in class for the McLaren 720S when Darren Leung, Sean Gelael and Marino Sato stood on the step of the podium in Brazil. United Autosports currently sits 10th and 11th in the LMGT3 drivers standings with one round remaining.
Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 (Photo: Garage 59)
Subject to the approval of the WEC Entry Committee, Garage 59 will take over the running of the McLaren entries for the 2026 season.
“We are proud to be partnering with McLaren on the world stage,” said Garage 59 Team Principal Andrew Kirkaldy. “Competing in the WEC with two McLaren GT3 cars isn’t just a progression, it’s a statement of intent. We know how intense the competition is in the WEC but we believe we have the people, the infrastructure and the resolve to be competitive from day one.”
Garage 59 will move into new state-of-the-art premises in Northampton to expand its facilities for engineering, car preparation and team operations.
For Richard Dean, United Autosports CEO, the decision to step back for a year and hand the LMGT3 programme over to Garage 59 was not an easy one but was necessary to ensure that the Hypercar programme can be given full focus.
“It is truly an honour to race in the WEC, so this is not a decision we have taken lightly,” he said. “But when you have the opportunity to race in Hypercar and form a team with McLaren Racing with the goal to compete for outright victory in the championship, including Le Mans… that is something we have worked for, fought for… dreamed of… for years, so we are doing everything in our power to make it a success. I would like to thank WEC for their support and wish Garage 59 and McLaren Automotive the best of luck next season in LMGT3. We will be back on the grid in 2027 as part of the McLaren United AS WEC Hypercar Team and we can’t wait.”
The final round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season gets underway at the BAPCO Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain on November the 6th.
