{"id":341958,"date":"2025-12-12T00:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T00:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/341958\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T00:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T00:19:10","slug":"united-autosports-exits-supercars-venture-ahead-of-mclaren-hypercar-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/341958\/","title":{"rendered":"United Autosports exits Supercars venture ahead of McLaren Hypercar programme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/team\/united-autosports\/8325\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">United Autosports<\/a> will exit its Supercars joint venture to focus on its other commitments, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/team\/mclaren\/10\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">McLaren<\/a>\u2019s factory Hypercar programme in the World Endurance Championship from 2027.<\/p>\n<p>As per the agreement, Walkinshaw Group and Andretti\u2019s parent company TWG Global will consolidate their ownership and acquire United\u2019s existing shareholding in the outfit.<\/p>\n<p>The change will come into effect on 3 February and will see the team rebrand\u00a0as Walkinshaw TWG Racing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With this announcement, Supercars becomes the second category United will leave in 2026, having also handed over the running of McLaren\u2019s LMGT3 effort to Garage 59.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the Anglo-American team\u2019s resources next year will be directed towards the development of McLaren\u2019s new LMDh prototype, which will debut in the WEC\u2019s top category in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was an incredibly difficult decision to step away from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/team\/walkinshaw-performance\/474\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Walkinshaw Andretti United<\/a>, one that we didn\u2019t take lightly. But with our WEC program and other racing\u00a0 commitments growing rapidly, the time was right to put our complete focus and energy into that,\u201d said United co-owner Zak Brown.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPersonally, I have loved every moment with the entire team, with the drivers, and being involved in Supercars. To win the championship in our final event together seems like the perfect ending, but also, the Bathurst 10000 win is something that I will never forget.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sport itself is in great shape, it\u2019s no-doubt one of the best racing categories in the world. I want to thank the team for not only welcoming us in 2018, but for all the hard work and dedication since.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ryan-walkinshaw-from-walkinsha.jpg\" alt=\"Ryan Walkinshaw from Walkinshaw Andretti United and Zak Brown\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">Ryan Walkinshaw from Walkinshaw Andretti United and Zak Brown<\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: Edge Photographics<\/p>\n<p>Walkinshaw Andretti United was formed in 2018 when United Autosports and Andretti Autosport joined forces with Ryan Walkinshaw in the erstwhile factory Holden squad. Andretti and Walkinshaw each took a 37.5% stake in the rejigged organisation, with United acquiring the remaining 25%.<\/p>\n<p>During its eight-year stint in Australia\u2019s biggest championship, WAU achieved plenty of success against stern opposition from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/team\/dick-johnson-racing\/19553\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Dick Johnson Racing<\/a> and Triple Eight Racing, scoring 17 victories in total &#8211; including at the Bathurst 1000 in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>It added another milestone this year when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/driver\/chaz-mostert\/19735\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Chaz Mostert<\/a> snatched the drivers\u2019 title from Triple Eight duo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/driver\/will-brown\/449453\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Will Brown<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/driver\/broc-feeney\/834027\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Broc Feeney<\/a> under Supercars\u2019 new Finals system in Adelaide.<\/p>\n<p>Walkinshaw TWG stressed there will be no changes to its day-to-day operations and staffing levels following United\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n<p>The Melbourne-based squad will continue its preparations for 2026 as it leaves Ford\u2019s stable to become Toyota\u2019s homologation partner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnited Autosports, and more specifically, Zak Brown and Richard Dean, have been nothing but fantastic to work with since 2018. While we are all sad to see them go, we completely respect their decision,\u201d said Ryan Walkinshaw.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve shared in some fantastic moments together, none bigger than the championship in Adelaide a few weeks ago, or winning Bathurst in 2021, and personally, I\u2019ve really enjoyed working alongside them. It started as an idea to bring Andretti Autosport into the fold, and it wasn\u2019t long before Zak was making sure he didn\u2019t miss out!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss added: \u201cWe\u2019re thankful for everything United Autosports has contributed to this team since 2018 and for the success we shared along the way. Their role in building where we are\u00a0 today will always be an important part of our story, and we thank the entire\u00a0 organisation, as well as Zak and Richard.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 Supercars season will begin at Sydney Motorsport Park on 20-22 February. Walkinshaw TWG will enter a pair of new Toyota GR Supra cars next year for newly-crowned champion Mostert and one-time race winner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/driver\/ryan-wood\/954613\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Ryan Wood<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>            We want your opinion!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-auto\">What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?<\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"#\" class=\"ms-link text-link font-bold\">Take our 5 minute survey.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-1 text-body\">&#8211; The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"United Autosports will exit its Supercars joint venture to focus on its other commitments, including McLaren\u2019s factory Hypercar&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85,40367,189770,33552],"class_list":["post-341958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports","tag-supercars","tag-united-autosports-exits-supercars-venture-ahead-of-mclaren-hypercar-programme","tag-walkinshaw-andretti-united"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}