Ford: Important ELMS P2 Effort Doesn’t ‘Detract’ from Hypercar

Ford Racing Hypercar program manager Dan Sayers says it is important the team’s involvement in the European Le Mans Series this year does not ‘detract’ from the main focus of preparing its new car for a 2027 entry into the FIA World Endurance Championship.

It was announced earlier this year that Ford would field an Oreca 07 Gibson in the ELMS this year in partnership with Proton Competition to enable its engineers and crew members to prepare for the WEC attack, which is being run in-house by the manufacturer alongside Venture Racing.

Among the No. 9 Oreca’s drivers are Mike Rockenfeller and Seb Priaulx, two of the three racers so far confirmed as competing in the new Ford Hypercar effort in 2027.

However, while Sayers estimates that around 80 percent of the WEC team will have some involvement in the ELMS, he insisted it is definitely “secondary” to Hypercar in terms of priorities for this year.

Speaking in an update call to selected media, he said this would particularly be the case once on-track testing of the Hypercar begins, which is currently scheduled to commence at the start of Q3.

“There are a few difficult times with the test program and the continuation of the race series [ELMS] into October but we will try to spread the workload so people can focus on the testing as well,” Sayers explained when asked by Sportscar365 about the extent of the WEC crew’s involvement.

“The biggest risk is we focus on ELMS and it detracts a little bit from the LMDh, which we can’t afford to do. My job is to make sure we learn everything we need to learn from the ELMS.

“The objective is not to go and win the championship. Of course, everyone goes to the race track and then it’s the most important thing to try to win there but we need to in the back of our minds keep true to the fact that it’s the processes, it’s preparing for the LMDh program that’s the primary objective of that program.”

Before Hypercar testing begins, Sayers described the ELMS entry as something that “keeps us busy” but added there are still important lessons that can be learned from the LMP2 campaign.

“The primary objective is for us to get everything ready and prove everything out for the WEC program,” said Sayers.

“Whether that be the engineering processes, all of the data processing, the aero maps – everything that we want to be ready, so when we go track testing with the Hypercar, we’re ready to plug and play and we’re not going to our first test developing the workbooks, the KPIs, all of the systems and processes behind the scenes mainly for engineering but also operationally.

“It’s really just, one, to keep us race fit but, two, to refine all the processes and make sure we’re good to go when we get the Hypercar.”

Alongside Rockenfeller and Priaulx, the Proton-entered Oreca will also be driven by FIA Silver-rated Jonas Ried, the son of Proton team boss Christian Ried.

The third Ford Hypercar driver announced to date, Logan Sargeant, also has a Proton program in place for this season as he is due to drive one of the team’s Mustang GT3 EVOs in the WEC, with Priaulx set to spearhead the sister LMGT3 entry.