The winding road that brought McLaren back to Le Mans

Nearly 30 years since McLaren's famous win on debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours, McLaren returns in the LMGT3 class with three cars in this year's edition. But why has it taken so long?

McLaren is back at the Le Mans 24 Hours, 29 years after the F1 GTR’s first-time-out, against-the-odds victory in 1995 – and 26 since a car bearing its name took part in the great race. Yet probably more significant are the 13 years since its sportscars started racing again in the international GT arena in 2011.

It’s taken a long time for one of the most famous names in motor racing to once again grace the grid for the French enduro. The absence finally ends with a trio of 720S GT3 Evos entered in the new-for-2024 LMGT3 class this year.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.