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    Ford Le Mans Hypercar program hotting up: first drivers and V8 power announced

    3 weeks ago

    ► Ford is returning to La Sarthe for 2027► Will race with a top-class LMDh machine► FIA WEC program planned as well Ford’s bid for victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours is gathering pace, the team announcing three of the drivers that will contest the great race and what engine its car will use. Ford will make its debut in the top Hypercar class in 2027 and it’s shaping up to be a fascinating year in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) – of which Le Mans is a round – with more manufacturers than ever fielding Hypercars. Ford, of course, has a long and storied history at Le Mans. It famously broke Ferrari’s dominance with the GT40, taking four back-to-back wins from 1966 to 1969. More recently, the Ford GT won the LMGTE class at Le Mans on the 50th anniversary of that first GT40 victory, while the Ford Mustang GT3 took a debut podium in 2024. There have been successes in WEC and the American-based IMSA SportsCar Championship, as well. Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastien Priaulx will step up from the factory-team Mustang GT3 to race the as-yet-unnamed Ford Hypercar. Sports car racing veteran Rockenfeller (below centre) has a Le Mans win and DTM title on his extensive record. Priaulx (the 24-year-old son of touring car legend Andy, below left) came up through the UK’s junior racing ranks and has carved a fruitful sports car career for himself over the last five years. Together, Rockenfeller and Priaulx took two IMSA class wins on the way to third in championship. The more intriguing signing is ex-Formula 1 driver Logan Sargeant (below right). The American endured a torrid time in his not-quite two seasons with Williams, only scoring a single point and finding himself out on his ear part-way through 2024. He has some experience in sports cars but is largely an unknown quantity with a roof over his head. Still, the Hypercar class is littered with ex-F1 drivers and they tend to quickly adapt to the demands of endurance racing. ‘Seb and Rocky are already part of the Ford family, having proven the Mustang GT3’s mettle with two wins in IMSA last year,’ Ford Racing Hypercar program manager Dan Sayer said. ‘Seb is a pure, natural talent; Rocky is the veteran who has seen it all and won it all.’ ‘They are joined by Logan Sargeant, who comes to us fresh from the F1 circuit, bringing a level of technical sophistication and high-downforce experience that is vital for a program of this scale. Having an American back in a Ford at Le Mans feels right,’ he adds. ‘It’s a nod to giants like Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt, who showed the world in 1967 what happens when American grit meets global ambition.’ Ford has also announced its Hypercar will be powered by a naturally-aspirated 5.4-litre Coyote V8 engine similar to that found in the Mustang GT3 – the best-sounding car on the grid. It’s built entirely in-house, albeit with support from Red Bull Ford Powertrains. Sayer said: ‘When you have an engine this iconic in your arsenal you don’t look for alternatives.’ The car follows IMSA’s LMDh specifications, rather than the FIA’s Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) pattern. While the two types compete against each other in WEC and IMSA races, LMDh is a lower-cost formula with a spec chassis based on second-tier LMP2 hardware – Ford will use an Oreca chassis – standardised aerodynamics and a common Bosch hybrid system. Other brands running LMDh cars include Cadillac, BMW and Genesis. By contrast, LMH cars such the Toyota and Ferrari are entirely bespoke. Ford’s long-standing motorsports partner Multimatic will operate the WEC campaign, but the team is getting its eye in with a campaign in the 2026 European Le Mans Series. Rockenfeller and Priaulx will race an LMP2 Oreca entered by Proton Competition, but tended to by the mechanics and engineers who will run the Hypercar. Genesis did likewise in 2025 to prepare for its Hypercar entry. Besides Ford, the 2027 Le Mans 24 Hours grid is set to feature factory Hypercar entries from Ferrari, Toyota, Alpine, Genesis, Aston Martin, Cadillac, BMW, fellow debutants McLaren, plus Peugeot if they stick around and maybe Porsche – the factory WEC team withdrew at the end of 2025. When Ford first announced its WEC campaign, FIA endurance racing commission president Richard Mille said: ‘Endurance racing’s golden age is right here, right now!’ He’s not wrong. Graham King is a Senior Staff Writer on the Bauer Automotive Digital Hub, working across CAR and Parkers By Graham King Senior Staff Writer for Parkers. Car obsessive, magazine and brochure collector, trivia mine.
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