Ford Motor Company will return to the top level of prototype sports car racing in 2027. The automaker will be back in the World Endurance Championship series with a factory team that will compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

After the 1960s, Ford exited from the top-tier prototype class and competed in production-focused class racing around the world. In 2016, it won the Le Mans GT class with a mid-engine GT, and then finished second in the GT class last year with the debut of its Mustang GT3.

In the year that will mark six decades since Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt won the race in a GT40 Mk. IV, Ford is headed back to the world's greatest sports car race. Not just with a GT car, but with an LMDh-spec prototype, competing in the top class for the overall win.

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.

Ford will return to the Le Mans 24 Hours to fight for overall victory as a part of a World Endurance Championship campaign with an LMDh prototype in 2027. The US giant has announced that it will attempt to repeat its triumphs at the French enduro in 1966 to ’69 with the Ford MkII,

The Blue Oval's factory effort will compete in WEC's Hypercar class with eyes on a Le Mans 24-hour overall victory for the first time since 1982