Ford ‘Not Losing Sleep’ Over Later Hypercar Testing Start

Ford Racing Hypercar program manager Dan Sayers says he is ‘not losing sleep’ over fellow 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship entrant McLaren beginning track testing at least three months earlier than the American manufacturer.

McLaren’s new MCL-HY Hypercar completed its first miles at a circuit at the start of this month, while Sayers said that Ford’s current target is to hit the track for the first time with its as-yet-unnamed LMDh machine at the beginning of August.

Despite the three-month difference between the dates, Sayers insisted Ford is “focused on our program” rather than worrying about what rivals are doing, adding there are benefits to spending more time developing the car before commencing testing.

When asked by Sportscar365 if he was concerned by McLaren gaining a head start, Sayers replied: “In honesty, no — it’s interesting but not very.

“I always think, from my design background, the longer you can spend designing a car, doing the CFD and optimizing it virtually, the better product you should have, in theory.

“Of course, don’t get me wrong, you learn a lot in testing but you have to have that balance of pushing it to the last minute you possibly can so you have enough testing in place.

“We think we’ve got the balance, from when we started, right, but time will tell. It’s interesting but we don’t lose sleep over it.”

Sayers revealed that Ford has a detailed test plan in place that will initially concentrate in Europe, close to chassis supplier ORECA’s French base.

“We’re trying to take in a variety of WEC circuits for sure and then we will use specific circuits for example for 30-hour tests,” explained Sayers when Sportscar365 asked about the testing schedule.

“Going to America and thrashing around Sebring is never a bad thing to prove out a car.

“The first bulk of the testing will be in Europe, then in December we will move out to the States and do a couple of months out there.”

The decision to test the car in Sebring contrasts with McLaren, with that program’s chief James Barclay saying the British manufacturer has no plans to test in the U.S. to experience the challenging curbs and bumpy Sebring surface.

Like McLaren, Ford is also targeting some testing time in the Middle East, but Sayers acknowledged those plans may need to change amid the conflict in Iran.

“It’s up in the air,” he said of the Middle East situation. “We do plan to go to Qatar if it’s confirmed.

“We want to try and do everything we can to be prepared for that first race, which I know will be difficult.

“If we can go there [Qatar] and alleviate some of the pressure from the whole team, if we’ve got a setup and got some learning, we can hopefully take the heart rate down a little bit and perform well.”

Sayers added that another balance that has to be struck with the testing schedule is deciding when to begin endurance tests.

“We don’t want to do it too soon until things are properly developed because the danger there is you do your durability test and then you change something, even control software, and it has a different effect on it, then you have to repeat it again,” he said of the decision not to rush into endurance running.

“We haven’t got a huge amount of time so we need to do plenty of testing and plenty of mileage but we need to learn in between the tests and not just test for test’s sake, so we’re trying to get that balance right as well.”