Which manufacturers will join WEC in 2027?

Genesis: the 2026 arrival

Genesis is the luxury arm of the Hyundai Motor Group and the first of the three new manufacturers to actually take the grid. The programme is run by IDEC Sport, a French endurance specialist that already operates in LMP2 and Le Mans Cup, with the chassis built by Oreca and the engine developed in-house at Hyundai Motorsport's Alzenau facility.

The Genesis Magma Racing programme was announced in May 2024. The car is an LMDh, using the Oreca 07 derivative chassis common to several Hypercar entries and the spec Bosch-Williams-Xtrac hybrid kit. The engine is a 3.6-litre twin-turbo V8, the only V8 in the LMDh field that uses a 90-degree architecture. The Genesis programme will also run a parallel IMSA GTP entry, taking advantage of the shared LMDh regulation set.

Genesis aims for a full WEC season in 2026 with two entries, scaling up depending on first-year results. The marque's target is a Le Mans podium by 2028 and a Le Mans win by 2030.

Ford: the 2027 arrival

Ford's return to top-class endurance racing has been signposted since 2023. The Mustang GTP programme was officially announced in November 2024 with a 2027 debut. The car will be an LMDh, built on a Multimatic chassis (the same supplier as the Porsche 963 and the upcoming McLaren entry, with Multimatic being Ford's preferred motorsport partner across multiple categories).

The engine is a 5.4-litre naturally aspirated V8 derived from the Mustang Dark Horse road-car programme. Ford has confirmed the Mustang GTP will run a parallel IMSA GTP campaign starting in 2026 (one year before the WEC entry), which gives Ford a year of competitive race miles on the platform before tackling Le Mans.

Ford's Le Mans history makes this return particularly weighted. Four consecutive Ford GT40 wins from 1966 to 1969 ended Ferrari's first run of dominance, and the Ford Le Mans return in 2016 with the GT was driven by the 50th anniversary of the 1966 result. The 2027 Mustang GTP arrival is the first time Ford will compete at La Sarthe in the overall class since the GT programme wound down at the end of 2019.

McLaren: the 2027 arrival, platform pending

McLaren confirmed a Hypercar programme in February 2024, with a planned 2027 debut. The full technical specification has not been announced as of mid-2025, including whether the car will be an LMH or LMDh. McLaren has historically built its own race cars (the Senna GTR and the various McLaren F1 GTR programmes were in-house designs), which would suggest an LMH path, but the cost differential favours LMDh and McLaren's recent customer GT3 business (the 720S GT3 and the upcoming 750S GT3) has been Multimatic-built.

McLaren has chassis-design experience that no other 2027 newcomer brings, and the engine question is open: the company could partner with Mercedes-AMG (the F1 engine supplier) or develop an in-house unit for the first time in three decades.

A Le Mans entry slot is reserved for 2027 with the car expected to debut at the season opener in February or March of that year.

What the additions do to the Hypercar grid

The 2025 Hypercar manufacturer roster sat at 8: Toyota, Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac, BMW, Alpine, Aston Martin and Peugeot. The 2026 roster adds Genesis to make 9. The 2027 roster gains Ford and McLaren to reach 11.

Eleven manufacturers in a top class is the deepest premier-class field the WEC has ever fielded. The previous record was 9 in the early Group C years (1985 to 1988). The pre-1980 era had bigger overall fields but with several manufacturers running cars in non-overall classes.

The grid count is therefore exactly the structural argument for the Hypercar regulation set that the FIA and the ACO made in 2020. LMP1-Hybrid had two manufacturers by 2017 and one by 2019. Hypercar has 11 confirmed for 2027.

What could change before 2027

OEM motorsport programmes are subject to mid-development cancellation. The most recent example was Lamborghini's SC63 LMDh, which competed in 2024 and IMSA's 2024 season before being shelved at the end of 2024 due to internal restructuring. None of the three confirmed 2026-2027 newcomers have public concerns about programme cancellation, but the Hyundai-Genesis programme's success in 2026 will be the bellwether for the LMDh customer-development model the rest of the field is using.

Manufacturer rumours for a 2028 or 2029 entry include Hyundai's parent N badge (a separate programme from Genesis), Subaru, and a possible return for Audi after the post-Dieselgate withdrawal. None are confirmed.