Ford Officially Announces LMDh Program; Set For WEC Debut In 2027

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AMERICA OVERLOAD BABAAYY!!

After months (and hell even go back years) of speculation and rumors that if you honestly looked closely enough you would've known the answer, Ford finally, OFICIALLY unveiled their plans to build and race a factory-born LMDh prototype racecar of their own.

The debut of the car is projected for 2027 in the World Endurance Championship as Ford announced at their Season Launch event in North Carolina Thursday night. What was missing - and to be fair overall Ford were super light on the details of the upcoming program - no mention of an entry into the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship was made. Even still, you would have to bet your life that the Ford LMDh machine will race in North America, hopefully in 2027 as well or perhaps a year later in 2028.

The focus during Ford's reveal was focused in almost entirely on their aspirations to return to Le Mans and win the damn thing again, so maybe that's why they chose to highlight the WEC primarily. With their legendary history of having captured four straight overall Le Mans wins from 1966 to 1969 with the GT40, that history is serving as their North Star for the new prototype program.

It'll be interesting to see who will be chosen to run the cars, and much to their credit Ford is already in the process of establishing a factory pyramid of drivers, teams and cars that will see the Mustang GT3 play just as crucial of a role as their LMDh car. The whole operation will work in tandem as a complete unit and the support will be there to keep this thing functional for the longterm, which is a great illustration of how committed Ford are to create something that will last years down the road in the world of endurance and sportscar racing.

With Ford's arrival to the scene in 2027, coupled with Hyundai's projected debut for 2026, we're currently primed to see 10 (10!!!) manufacturers compete in the WEC in 2027 - Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Ford, Genesis, Peugeot, Porsche and Toyota.

Now - it's your move McLaren. Sportscar365.com nailed it last week when they reported that Ford was prepared to unveil their plans for an LMDh prototype, and in the same report they expect McLaren to do the same and to do so very soon. That would push the number of Hypercar manufacturers to 11, and that number could grow to 12 if Lamborghini gets their shit together and re-enters the WEC with the SC63. Hey who knows on that one, but we'll certainly take 11. 

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