Ford has announced it will enter the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2027, in the Hypercar class, the top category of the series.
The American manufacturer will therefore go up against existing rivals in the class, including Ferrari, Porsche, Toyota, Alpine, Cadillac and BMW.
While Ford theoretically had a choice between choosing the LMH rules — which Ferrari, Toyota, and Peugeot have constructed their cars to — or the cheaper LMDh rules, they chose the latter for their Hypercar. This is the same as Hyundai sub-brand Genesis chose for their Hypercar, which will enter WEC next year.
LMDh cars use a chassis base from four approved manufacturers; Dallara, Oreca, Multimatic, or Ligier. While Ford has not yet specified which manufacturer they’ve chosen, the company has worked very closely with Multimatic in the past.This includes the Ford GT programme in WEC and the IMSA SportsCar Championship almost a decade ago, plus the existing Mustang GT3 programme, among other projects.
Ford chooses WEC over IMSA
Entering WEC gives Ford the opportunity to race at Le Mans in the 24 hour endurance classic. The company has four overall wins there, from 1966 to 1969, where it beat Ferrari after developing the Ford GT sportscar in the 60s.
The company last took a win at Le Mans, in any class, in 2016 in GTE Pro, with the then-new Ford GT winning the race with drivers Sebastien Bourdais, Dirk Muller, and Joey Hand.
Cars built to the LMDh ruleset are also raceable in the IMSA championship. This means the American manufacturer could race there concurrently with the WEC programme, like some of its rivals do. However, an IMSA effort was not included in the announcement. It is believed a programme in the US may be possible in 2028 or 2029.
“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. We are ready to once again challenge the world, and ‘go like hell!’”
READ MORE: How Ford is ramping up involvement in Red Bull F1 engine project
