McLaren's WEC Hypercar has first public outing at Goodwood FOS
The MCL-HY made its first public debut up the hill at the Festival of Speed
The McLaren MCL-HY Hypercar has made its first public debut at the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
McLaren is due to make its debut in the World Endurance Championship in 2026, and the team has been undergoing an extensive testing programme is it builds up for its first race next year.
But for this weekend it has taken some time off, with McLaren coming straight from a private test at Magny Cours to Goodwood to run the MCL-HY up the famous hillclimb for the very first time.
The car - running in its Bruce McLaren tribute test livery - had its first run up the hill on Friday morning with Gregoire Saucy behind the wheel of the car.
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And the run did not disappoint, with fans visibly excited to see the WEC Hypercar in the flesh for the very first time.
Speaking exclusively to The Pit Stop Endurance at Goodwood, McLaren Hypercar Team's team principal James Barclay said: "It’s a very exciting time for us. We’re living and breathing with the car and the team every day.
"But it’s great to be here at Goodwood. We always said this would be a great place to do the public reveal of the car and show it to the world. So it’s great to be here, finally showing publicly the first time the MCL-HY.
McLaren will be shortly undertaking a 30-hour test with the MCL-HY and so the car will only be at Goodwood on Friday and Saturday so the team can then go and get prepared for its first real endurance test.
And as you might expect, it meant getting to Goodwood was a logistical challenge, but it was also one McLaren felt was important.
"I mean things that are worth doing aren’t always easy, right?" Said Barclay. So you know, it is about the fans. It’s ultimately a fan driven sport and so for us, we felt a really important way to show the car was somewhere like here. And there’s a gap in the calendar.
"We always said it might not be possible, but we’ll kind of pencil the date in the diary and as we had a successful first two tests, we felt it made sense to go with the idea we had and bring it here."
The McLaren MCL-HY Hypercar has made its first public debut at the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
McLaren is due to make its debut in the World Endurance Championship in 2026, and the team has been undergoing an extensive testing programme is it builds up for its first race next year.
But for this weekend it has taken some time off, with McLaren coming straight from a private test at Magny Cours to Goodwood to run the MCL-HY up the famous hillclimb for the very first time.
The car - running in its Bruce McLaren tribute test livery - had its first run up the hill on Friday morning with Gregoire Saucy behind the wheel of the car.
Sign up for The Pit Stop Endurance
Incredible stories from across the world of endurance racing
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
And the run did not disappoint, with fans visibly excited to see the WEC Hypercar in the flesh for the very first time.
Speaking exclusively to The Pit Stop Endurance at Goodwood, McLaren Hypercar Team's team principal James Barclay said: "It’s a very exciting time for us. We’re living and breathing with the car and the team every day.
"But it’s great to be here at Goodwood. We always said this would be a great place to do the public reveal of the car and show it to the world. So it’s great to be here, finally showing publicly the first time the MCL-HY.
McLaren will be shortly undertaking a 30-hour test with the MCL-HY and so the car will only be at Goodwood on Friday and Saturday so the team can then go and get prepared for its first real endurance test.
And as you might expect, it meant getting to Goodwood was a logistical challenge, but it was also one McLaren felt was important.
"I mean things that are worth doing aren’t always easy, right?" Said Barclay. So you know, it is about the fans. It’s ultimately a fan driven sport and so for us, we felt a really important way to show the car was somewhere like here. And there’s a gap in the calendar.
"We always said it might not be possible, but we’ll kind of pencil the date in the diary and as we had a successful first two tests, we felt it made sense to go with the idea we had and bring it here."
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