Ford announces Le Mans return as it chases first overall win since 1969

Ford will return to the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2027 in a bid to win the race overall for the first time since the 1960s.

The American giant has revealed its plan to race in the top tier of prototype sports car racing with a full manufacturer entry in the LMDh class, through its Ford Performance arm. But it has yet to reveal details of which chassis supplier or team it will engage for the programme.

The return will come 60 years since its halcyon days at the world’s most famous endurance race. Ford won Le Mans across four consecutive years between 1966 and 1969 with iterations of its iconic GT40.

In the past decade, Ford has raced at Le Mans in a works capacity but only in competition for class victories. Its Ford GT was campaigned across four seasons between 2016 and ’19 by Chip Ganassi Racing, in both the World Endurance Championship and the US-based IMSA Sports Car Series, winning the GTE Pro class at Le Mans at its first attempt.

Last year, Ford returned at the start of the new LMGT3 era with its Mustang model and scored a podium at Le Mans courtesy of Proton Competition.

The programme in sports car racing’s top tier adds to Ford’s other major international motor sport commitments, in Formula 1 as a partner with Red Bull Racing from next year, and its current rally raid campaign which achieved a podium on the debut of the Raptor T1+ at the Dakar Rally in January.

“We are entering a new era for performance and racing at Ford,” said Bill Ford, the company’s executive chairman and great-grandson of founder Henry Ford. “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!’”