The World Endurance Championship is set to boast an enviable roster of manufacturers in 2027 after Ford announced it will return to the series’ top class.
Ford is targeting its fifth outright win at the Le Mans 24 Hours, having triumphed in the race four years in a row in the sixties with its GT40, as depicted in a 2019 film. It enjoyed its last class win with its GT car in 2016 and pulled out of the series three years later.The announcement follows that of another carmaking giant, Hyundai, which last month confirmed details of its plans to enter WEC next year with its Genesis brand. Following the departures of Audi-owned Lamborghini and niche brand Isotta Fraschini from the series last year, WEC can look forward to having 10 major manufacturers at its races in 2027.
Ford and Genesis will join Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Toyota, Peugeot and Renault-owned Alpine.
Bill Ford announced the company’s plans at a Ford Performance event yesterday. “There’s no track or race that means more to us than Le Mans,” he said.
“It’s where we took on Ferrari in the 1960s and beat them four times in a row. Then we went back 50 years later and we beat them again. And that was one of the great days in my career was in 2016 when we did that after 50 years.
“Tonight, I’m really happy to announce we’re going back to Le Mans, back to win. But not only the class, this time to win it all, because I’m announcing that in 2027 Ford will be competing with a new prototype LMDh.”
Ford is due to return to F1 next year as part of Red Bull’s new powertrains division. They will face at least five other manufacturers in grand prix racing: Ferrari, Mercedes, Audi, Honda and Alpine. Cadillac also has an agreement in principle to join F1 next year.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Formula 1
- How much F1 will you watch in another packed, 30-race season?
- Hamilton won’t last two years at Ferrari, predicts Ecclestone
- “No doubt” Herta is quick enough for Formula 1 – Ericsson
- I’m not the “really angry guy” I sound like on the radio – Hadjar
- Which of Formula 1’s six rookies will sink or swim in 2025?
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
31st January 2025, 11:54
I love it, but can’t stop thinking this is a timing bomb. Ford might be entering in 2027 but who knows if everyone is going to be there by that time.
Davethechicken
31st January 2025, 12:18
Good news indeed.
Le Mans is the highlight of my motor racing viewing every year.
I, like almost every one, dislike the principle of BOP, but I thoroughly enjoyed the hypercar class last year and if it produces great viewing I am not completely adverse.
Wer
31st January 2025, 16:51
Le Mans is the highlight of my motor racing viewing every year.
Davethechicken
1st February 2025, 19:37
Nice list
Funny F1 is the meat and drink rather than the highlight for some of us!
stefano (@alfa145)
31st January 2025, 13:47
wow, they are still boasting about their 1960s wins against Ferrari… how long can you keep auto-cherishing yourself before it becomes a bit… lame? 100 years?
Johns
31st January 2025, 14:01
I think Ford is using the popularity of the movie Ford vs Ferrari to the max. I would expect Ford to announce a updated GT40 hypercar to compete w the the corvette. To sell cars, get men to walk into showrooms with their wives by having a hyper car on display, then sell the minivan to the wife. In America, wives make 90% of big item spending decisions. Happy wife, happy life and all rhat. Why donyou think Tide sponsored NASCAr for so long?
JoshJ81
31st January 2025, 16:53
I understand what you are saying but I think I can answer this from my perspective.
Most race fans say, “I remember the good ole days” or “it’s just not the same or as good as it used to be”. Of course they will boast their victories over Ferrari. History is perfect click bait, good for the ears of Ford fans and about the only tactic they can use to gain interest in their projects. The reality is, all of these cars are in a tighter rules box than F1, much like IndyCar and NASCAR. Unlike in the past, there was real innovation happening, a much wider area of creativity. Today, on any given Sunday, any of these cars can win because every car is virtually the same in order to combat rising costs of “arms races”. It truly is down to the Team and Driver’s execution on the build up and race day. Ford knows this but to stand out at the moment, history is the route they will take for the future.
anon
31st January 2025, 17:35
@alfa145 it could be pointed out that Ferrari have done something similar with the 499P – that car was given that name to link it to their 312 P prototype cars from the early 1970s, and they’ve explicitly stated that the liveries were designed to incorporate elements from those cars (even though the 312 PB never won at Le Mans, and Ferrari even deliberately avoided entering that car at the 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans because they believed it wouldn’t last the distance).
Ferrari’s last entries at Le Mans in the prototype class before the 499P appeared were even further back in time than Ford’s were – Ford did enter the C100 in 1982, even if it was unsuccessful – and Ferrari’s last overall victory before the 499P appeared was in 1965, but it’s not stopped them from using their historical success in their literature when talking about their Le Mans programme.
Bob
2nd February 2025, 12:49
Ferrari raced top class prototypes at Le Mans from 1995-2000 with the 333 SP. Prior to that was the 312 PB in the 70s.
anon
2nd February 2025, 22:04
Bob, I perhaps should have made it clearer that I was talking in terms of works entries by Ferrari, given that the 333 SP was being sold as a car for privateers (and, it has to be said, a lot of the design work was by Dallara rather than Ferrari).
To that end, Ferrari themselves largely focus on their own works efforts from the 1960s and 1970s, with the 333 SP not really featuring in their promotional materials – underlining that they’d rather talk about a distant victory instead of the somewhat more recent, but more modest, results of the customer 333 SP’s that raced.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
31st January 2025, 19:18
Why wouldn’t you? It was a big deal back then. Teams always talk about their heritage anyway
JoshJ81
31st January 2025, 23:24
Exactly, if heritage didn’t matter, then why does Ferrari get a special veto?
anon
1st February 2025, 18:05
JoshJ81, there would be many arguing that Ferrari’s veto right was more due to Ferrari’s political allegiances in 1980 when it negotiated that clause. Ferrari was the team that was most heavily aligned with the FIA against the independent teams at the time, and the FIA saw it as useful to have a team with veto rights that was loyal to them and could potentially, just by suggesting it might veto something, intimidate teams into not pursuing certain regulatory reforms.
MichaelN
31st January 2025, 19:19
Ford boasting about their wins in the 1960s is fair enough, even if the recent media about this has somehow managed to portray their global corporation as the underdog and Ferrari as this juggernaut. A complete fiction, of course.
But their GTE? Really? The car that constantly failed to play by the rules? From not making road cars to intentionally deceiving the BoP? If that’s the vibe the Americans want to bring back to Le Mans, it wouldn’t be a shame if they stick to IMSA instead.
anon
31st January 2025, 21:47
MichaelN, whilst the Ford GT was bending the rules quite a lot at the time, several other manufacturers in the GT category were bending the rules as well, with the ACO turning a blind eye or even openly breaking their own rules to accommodate them.
After all, the complaints you’re making are all directly applicable to the BMW M8 GTE, for example, and BMW were considered to be even worse offenders than Ford. BMW began building the racecar version of the M8 GTE in 2016 and the car was homologated by the ACO in 2017, but the road car that it was supposedly derived from didn’t enter production until 2019 (with BMW having already pulled out of the WEC before it began producing those road cars).
Aston Martin talked openly about how it was manipulating the BoP system, Porsche made modifications to their 911’s that were not considered legal under the homologation regulations – whilst Ford was one of the ones that pushed it harder, their rivals were already bending or cheating the regulations.
SteveR (@stever)
31st January 2025, 23:30
Ford should build an IndyCar engine and take on GM and Honda…..
Johns
31st January 2025, 23:59
Indycar engine? F1 is harder and more prestigious. Also need a Sexy project to attract the apprentice engineers from good colleges. F1 is it, in my opinion.
anon
1st February 2025, 8:47
@stever the problem is that the terms of entry for building an IndyCar engine these days are unattractive, which is why, despite trying to find a third manufacturer since 2012, the series has failed to find someone.
The commercial terms mean that the engines have to be priced significantly below the cost of developing and producing the engines in the first place, meaning that any engine manufacturer will be perpetually losing money on the deal. Whilst Chevrolet and Honda have been prepared, for now, to write off the cost of competing as an advertising expense, both of them have complaints about the situation as rising costs mean their losses are rising.
Honda has been especially outspoken, having demanded that IndyCar looks for major cost cutting initiatives, and even talked about whether they should start using more standardised parts or even move to a standard specification engine. They put out a rather blunt statement at the end of 2023 that, if the series doesn’t cut costs, then “it’s too much money, and we will go do something else”.
Jon
2nd February 2025, 10:10
I am liking wec more than F1 currently. All cars look different, no drs , very full grids. I know there as bop but F1 as had engine freeze bop which i hate
Ray
2nd February 2025, 20:05
Ah, the prodigal son returns. Ford’s re-entry into Le Mans and the WEC, elevating the roster to ten formidable manufacturers, is a move laden with both nostalgia and strategic foresight. The resurrection of their storied rivalry with Ferrari promises a spectacle that will captivate aficionados and rekindle old flames. One must appreciate the intricate dance of legacy and ambition at play here. The automotive stage is set for a performance of epic proportions.
MacLeod (@macleod)
3rd February 2025, 8:19
So if Max is still with Red Bull he is going to drive at Le mans with Ford?
StephenH
3rd February 2025, 14:28
Just two more things WEC needs.
A round at Silverstone.
A terrestrial TV deal or highlights package.