Ford has named former Method 1 racer Logan Sargeant among the many first batch of drivers for its entry into the World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class in 2027.
Sargeant will be part of current manufacturing facility drivers Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastian Priaulx in racing the as-yet-unnamed Ford LMDh, which might be primarily based on an Oreca LMP2 chassis.
His appointment to Ford’s Hypercar programme follows a shock look at WEC’s Bahrain rookie check in November, the place he accomplished his first laps aboard the Ford Mustang GT3.
Ford LMDh chief Dan Sayers stated the 25-year-old brings a “stage of technical sophistication and high-downforce expertise that’s important for a program of this scale”.
He added that recruiting an American within the staff’s line-up was “a nod to giants like Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt”, who received the 1967 Le Mans 24 Hours with the Ford GT40 Mk. IV.
Sargeant raced in F1 with Williams in 2023 and 2024, however was dropped by the staff midway by his second season because of a scarcity of outcomes. His solely factors end got here on the 2023 US Grand Prix, the place he completed tenth behind team-mate Alex Albon.
He had been because of contest the 2025 European Le Mans Collection with IDEC Sport as a part of a programme that might have led to a task with Genesis’ LMDh challenge in 2026, however withdrew from the championship on the eve of the season.
Sargeant returned to racing on the finish of final 12 months, contesting the ultimate two rounds of the IMSA SportsCar Championship with the PR1 Mathiasen LMP2 staff earlier than participating within the Bahrain rookie check.
Whereas he’s comparatively new to sportscar racing, Rockenfeller and Priaulx carry a wealth of endurance expertise with them.
#64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3: Mike Rockenfeller, Sebastian Priaulx
Picture by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Photos by way of Getty Photos
Rockenfeller received the 2010 Le Mans throughout his lengthy stint as an Audi manufacturing facility driver that additionally noticed him clinch the 2013 DTM title. He joined Ford’s steady of drivers in 2024 and spent the final season racing the Mustang GT3 in IMSA with a number of GTD Professional winner Priaulx.
The latter additionally has an extended affiliation with Ford by his father Andy Priaulx, who was part of the Chip Ganassi-run Ford GT programme within the WEC between 2016 and 2019.
Ford additionally introduced that each Rockenfeller and Priaulx will contest the 2026 ELMS season within the LMP2 ranks to arrange for his or her Hypercar programme, however stopped wanting revealing the staff they’d race for, or explaining whether or not Ford would have any operational involvement.
No particulars had been revealed about Sargeant’s plans for 2026, however he’s already because of contest this month’s Daytona 24 Hours in an Oreca 07 entered by Period Motorsport.
Ford shares engine particulars
Precisely a 12 months after Ford introduced its plans to return to the top-flight of sportscar racing, the American model has revealed key particulars of the powertrain that may underpin its LMDh prototype.
The Blue Oval has opted for a naturally-aspirated 5.4-litre V8 engine, an M-Sport-tuned model of which already does responsibility within the Mustang GT3, amongst different vehicles.
As with all different LMDh prototypes, Ford’s Coyote-based engine might be paired with a spec hybrid system designed collectively by Bosch, Xtrac and Williams Superior Engineering.
Sayers stated that “if you hear a Ford coming down the Mulsanne Straight at three within the morning, you shouldn’t have to have a look at the badge to know who it’s.”
Ford clarified that the engine might be developed fully in-house, with its staff in Michigan working in collaboration with the Crimson Bull Ford Powertrains division in Milton Keynes.
As revealed earlier, Ford will deal with the operational elements of its Hypercar challenge by itself slightly than partnering with an impartial staff.
The race staff might be primarily based at a brand new facility in Banbury, UK, with Sayers – who beforehand helped arrange Crimson Bull’s F1 engine programme – heading up the challenge.
Sayers’ earlier background in sportscar racing contains working with Prodrive on Aston Martin’s Vantage GTE and GT3 efforts.
To this point, Ford has solely dedicated to a WEC Hypercar entry, with no indication but of whether or not it might run a parallel programme in IMSA’s GTP class within the coming years.
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