Brown eager for Le Mans return amid McLaren expansion

Zak Brown wants McLaren to race at Le Mans as part of a sports car program, as the organization continues to expand its entry into multiple motorsport categories.

McLaren has factory teams in Formula 1, IndyCar, Extreme E and now Formula E, with its expansion beyond F1 taking place since Brown joined the company at the end of 2016. After such a rapid growth in terms of international racing activities, the McLaren Racing CEO says the group needs to ensure all of the projects are stable and successful but he wants to add a Le Mans entry to the portfolio.

“I’d love to see us at Le Mans in sports car racing,” Brown said. “We have a lot going on — the stars all need to align and be in the right place at the right time, make sure we’re happy with our existing programs, but if I could wave a magic wand and be in one other racing series it would be in sports cars.”

McLaren has won events in both F1 and IndyCar over the past 18 months, and while it finished fifth in the F1 constructors’ championship last season it was fighting for the IndyCar drivers’ title in each of the last two years. Brown says that’s the level he wants all of the teams to operate at, with his other main goal being to see McLaren winning titles in multiple disciplines.

“I think the future looks very exciting,” he said. “We want to compete for the world championship in the world championships we compete in, we want to win the Indy 500, we want to win the IndyCar championship — so we just have a few goals set out! We want to be the most engaged and exciting racing team with our fans and our partners, so a lot of hard work ahead of us, some big goals.

“One step at a time but I think we have all the support from our fans, our partners, our shareholders and a highly motivated racing team and teams to be able to accomplish those goals. But we’ve got some tough competition.

“I’ll start by dreaming that they win each one. I don’t want to be too greedy and say in one year — that would be great and I think you’ve got to shoot for the stars and see where you end up when you’re all said and done.”