Ford Racing has completed the first round of testing with its brand-new LMDh, which will make its debut in the 2027 World Endurance Championship campaign.
The Oreca-chassis prototype, which will compete in next year’s Hypercar class, clocked up over 1,000 km at Circuit Paul Ricard, where it first underwent a shakedown to ensure everything was in order, before commencing full-scale testing over three full days.
Logan Sargeant, Matt Campbell, Tom Blomqvist and Mike Rockenfeller all took turns driving the LMDh that is powered by a 5.4-litre V8 engine derived from the Coyote.
Present in the pitlane, meanwhile, were Sebastian Priaulx and Nick Yelloly who are waiting for their turn to get behind the wheel in the coming weeks.
Ford Racing’s director Mark Rushbrook said: “Taking our LMDh out on track for the first time at Paul Ricard is a hugely important moment for the team. Every kilometre covered in this car brings us closer to Le Mans and to reclaiming our place at the top of endurance racing.
“This is just the first step on a long and challenging development journey, but the fact that all six of our drivers were there, working together and driving this programme forward, speaks volumes about the team spirit we are building.”
The programme will now continue with three days of simulator testing at Ford Racing’s headquarters in North Carolina to verify the correlation of all the data and information gathered in southern France.
Then, in early September, Ford will travel to Portimao, before test sessions at Silverstone, Monza, Imola, Aragon, Austin and Sebring.
Head of Ford’s WEC Hypercar programme Dan Sayers said: “Arriving at Paul Ricard and completing the car’s shakedown, as well as three full days of testing, is exactly the milestone we had set out to achieve.
“Everything we did during the preparation phase – the work on the test bench in Dearborn, starting the engine in France, the countless hours on the simulator – was aimed at ensuring that, once we got out on the track, we’d be ready to go straight away.”
