WEC 2027: Grégoire Saucy named McLaren Hypercar race driver

McLaren Racing has promoted Grégoire Saucy to a full race seat in its MCL-HY Hypercar for the team's WEC (FIA World Endurance Championship) debut in 2027. The Swiss driver, the 2026 ELMS champion, is the fifth driver confirmed for the programme.

An ELMS champion gets his chance

Saucy, 26, won this year's European Le Mans Series LMP2 title with United Autosports, in an Oreca 07 Gibson shared with Griffin Peebles and Ben Hanley. He had already won the Formula Regional European Championship in 2021 before moving from single-seaters to sports cars in 2024.

A member of McLaren's development programme, he raced in the WEC in 2024 and 2025 in a United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. According to DailySportsCar, he is the first driver promoted to a race seat from that pool.

Involved with the MCL-HY from the start

Saucy has driven the prototype since its first laps at Varano in May, where he shared it with Mikkel Jensen. He then attended almost all of its tests and also drove at the car's Goodwood Festival of Speed debut. He was one of only two drivers, with Mikkel Jensen, to drive the MCL-HY at its first rollout, and has since completed further tests in the car run by United Autosports. Hypercar team principal James Barclay praised his speed, methodical approach and progress during testing.

What does the McLaren line-up look like?

• Mikkel Jensen
• Laurens Vanthoor
• Alex Lynn
• Leonardo Fornaroli, also a development driver
• Grégoire Saucy

The last seat is expected to go to Malthe Jakobsen, who leaves Peugeot after the Monza finale, according to Sportscar365 and Motorsport.com. McLaren has not yet officially confirmed this.

A familiar partner

United Autosports, co-owned by McLaren Racing chief Zak Brown, will run the MCL-HY in 2027 as McLaren's official partner. Saucy has raced for the team before and knows how it works.

For WEC fans, the announcement fills in the line-up of one of the big newcomers of the 2027 Hypercar season. The sixth driver and the full season programme are still to come.

The editorial team