Ford Hypercar Endurance Racer Gets 5.4-liter V8, Veteran Drivers

A decade ago, Ford entered the World Endurance Championship and returned to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time since the 1980s. At the time they evaluated competing in the top LMP1 prototype class against Audi, Porsche and Toyota, but decided the cost was just too high and opted to build a new GT instead. That car won the GTE class in 2016, but Ford wanted to take another run at overall victory for the first time since 1969. The emergence of the current Le Mans Hypercar rules including the LMDh specification has given them that opportunity. After announcing plans to enter an LMDh machine last year, we are finally getting some details on the car that will compete in 2027. 

At the Ford Racing 2026 launch event in Detroit today, the automaker revealed what will power its new Le Mans challenger and who some of the drivers will be. The LMDh rules define prototype style sports cars that are built using a core structure from one of four manufacturers, Oreca, Multimatic, Ligier or Dallara with Ford opting for the Oreca spine. 

These racers are also equipped with a standardized hybrid system using a 50-kW motor-generator unit from Bosch, a battery pack from Williams Advanced Engineering and an Xtrac 7-speed gearbox. The software and control strategy for how this works with the internal combustion engine is free and entirely up to the manufacturer. You can read more about what Honda Racing Corporation does on the Acura ARX-06 here. 

Manufacturers are free to use any combustion engine they want with the hybrid system, although the nominal power output of the system is limited to 670-hp. Through the balance of performance system, series regulators can adjust the power between 644 and 697-hp. The other LMDh cars currently use mostly turbocharged V6 or turbocharged V8s although Cadillac uses a naturally aspirated 5.5-liter V8. 

Ford has decided to use a 5.4-liter naturally aspirated V8 similar to the one found in the Mustang GT3. It’s based on the 5.0-liter Coyote V8 already used in Mustangs and F-150s. The GT3 engines were co-developed by Ford and M-Sport in England and are built and maintained by M-Sport. 

For the LMDh program, Ford Racing is taking engine development more in-house with the Dearborn engineers working with those from Ford Red Bull Powertrains on the hybrid integration. 

Unlike many other manufacturers that are using existing race teams to run their cars as BMW does with WRT and Porsche does with Penske Racing, Ford is running its WEC program with an in-house team as well. As it assembles this team for the 2027 WEC season, it will start competing this year in the European Le Mans Series with an LMP2 class car much like Genesis did in 2025 to prepare for the 2026 racing season. 

This will let the team learn how to work together and learn at least many of the European tracks that are used for WEC. Ford is also pulling in some drivers it already knows, starting with Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastian Priaulx who have both been driving the Mustang GT3 in IMSA for the last two years. Priaulx’s father Andy was part of the driving crew for the GT that ran at Le Mans from 2016 to 2019. Rockenfeller and Priaulx will be joined by Logan Sargent, an American driver that ran for the Williams F1 team in 2023 and part of the 2024 season. The 2026 ELMS season kicks off in April in Barcelona Spain. 

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