Ford announced plans Thursday to enter an LMDh prototype in the World Endurance Championship in 2027, taking the American manufacturer back to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the top category of sports car racing.

Ford will enter the booming global factory prototype ranks with a new LMDh-based chassis starting in 2027. As RACER revealed earlier in January, the Blue Oval is set to chase overall wins at

The Blue Oval brand will field a full factory FIA WEC team to try and capture its first outright win in nearly six decades.

Ford becomes the eighth manufacturer to officially commit to the LMDh platform and is set to be at least the tenth OEM to enter the WEC’s Hypercar class in 2027, joining Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot, Porsche, Toyota and beginning next year, Genesis.

Ford will develop a new top-tier sports car to compete for overall victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours and the World Endurance Championship Hypercar class from 2027 onwards, aiming to continue where its G

Determined to defeat the Italian marque after several failed attempts in the years prior, Ford developed the GT40 and, together with customer teams, entered multiple examples in the 1966 race. The cars driven to the historic win were a trio of GT40 Mk IIs, and one of those went up for auction in 2018, finally selling for $9.8 million.