Ford is returning to the top flight of endurance racing in 2027, in a bid to recreate its Le Mans success in the 1960s. The carmaker has confirmed it will compete in the LMDh (Le Mans Daytona) class of the World Endurance Championship (WEC), which includes the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
- Ford working on new LMDh racer
- No IMSA plans announced
Between 1966 and 1969, Ford secured four consecutive Le Mans victories. Its legendary battle with Ferrari during this time even inspired the 2019 movie Ford v Ferrari. The last time it had a full factory-backed crack at overall victory was with the C100 Group C car in 1982.
Since then, Ford has fielded GT entries and currently also races in the LMGT3 class with the Mustang GT3. And it’s now set to make the step up to the WEC’s premier class in 2027, where it will take on manufacturers like Ferrari, Genesis, Toyota, BMW, Porsche, Cadillac, Alpine and Aston Martin.
“We are entering a new era for performance and racing at Ford,” said Bill Ford, Ford Motor Company executive chair.
“You can see it from what we’re doing on-road and off-road. When we race, we race to win. And there is no track or race that means more to our history than Le Mans. It is where we took on Ferrari and won in the 1960s. It is where we returned 50 years later and shocked the world and beat Ferrari again. I am thrilled that we’re going back to Le Mans and competing at the highest level of endurance racing.”
Ford working on LMDh racer
While details are scarce, Ford has revealed that it will build a car as per the LMDh rules. These cars are loosely based on LMP2 machinery and the whole backbone of the car (minus the internal combustion engine and hybrid system) is supplied by one of four chassis manufacturers – Ligier, Dallara, Oreca or Multimatic.
LMDh cars can compete in both the WEC as well as the US-based IMSA championship. However, Ford hasn’t announced any plans to race in IMSA so far.
With its WEC return, Ford will compete in the top class of four FIA world championships – it’s teaming up with Red Bull to co-develop the team’s F1 engines from 2026. Additionally, it also competes in the World Rally and World Rally-Raid championships.
