Rushbrook: Ford LMDh Effort to Be WEC Exclusive in 2027

Photo: Ford

Ford’s upcoming factory LMDh program will be exclusive to the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2027 according to Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook, who hasn’t ruled out a parallel IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship effort that could begin as early as 2028.

The Detroit manufacturer, which announced in January its Hypercar program for the WEC, omitted any details of a possible effort in the WeatherTech Championship’s GTP class with the same car.

Speaking with Sportscar365 in an exclusive interview, Rushbrook confirmed further details on Ford’s timeline, should it decide to green-light a GTP operation in addition to its multi-year commitment to the WEC.

“What we’ve announced is that we will be competing in WEC in 2027,” said Rushbrook. “We haven’t officially said anything beyond that.

“There’s of course a chance for [the car to race in IMSA]. But nothing that we’re ready to talk about at this point.”

When asked if that chance could come in the car’s launch season in 2027, Rushbrook said: “The earliest would be 2028.”

Ford’s potential rollout strategy would mirror that of Genesis, which will debut its GMR-001 Hypercar in the WEC next year before expanding to the WeatherTech Championship in 2027.

Other manufacturers, such as BMW, one of the founding LMDh brands, opted for a similar timeline.

Rushbrook said that Ford Performance has already determined the chassis partner and powertrain, with announcements to come later this year.

“Through the rest of this year, we will announce our chassis partner, then our team and then drivers after that,” he explained.

When asked if Ford had considered its EcoBoost V6 powerplant, which originated in Grand-Am DP cars prior to use in the Le Mans GTE-Pro class-winning Ford GT, Rushbrook said: “It was an idea that was part of the evaluation and we’ve chosen a direction which we’ll announce later this year.”

Discussions, meanwhile, are underway with “many” teams to operate the factory WEC program, which could be based in the U.S.

“We’re looking at all ways of doing it right now,” said Rushbrook.

“We’re talking to many teams right now, many of them are based in Europe including mainland and UK. Some of the teams are based in the U.S. but with the ability to put a satellite into Europe. There’s no decisions made.

“In many ways it makes sense for it to be based fully in Europe but there’s some things to consider beyond that as well.”

Rushbrook said on-track testing for the yet-to-be-named LMDh car is set to begin in the second quarter of next year.

“For sure it’s always good to be on track with the full vehicle and in real conditions but there’s also a lot we can do with our advanced transient driveline dynos that we have, that we can put the full driveline,” he said.

“We’ll of course be doing engine dyno work but we can do full driveline work, so we can already be working on some of the energy optimization and calibration before we ever get it in the car.”