Le Mans Friday Notebook

Photo: Andrea Lorenzina/DPPI

***While Friday did not see any track action for the cars taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, there was a flurry of announcements, including the 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship calendar, an outline of the 2030 top class prototype ruleset, the completion of Ford Racing’s Hypercar driver lineup, as well as the unveiling of the Genesis Magma GT Concept (pictured above).

***As widely expected, Silverstone will join the WEC calendar as a ninth round next year, set for April 23-25 as a six-hour race. The event joins the existing European Le Mans Series round at the British circuit, which is again on this year’s calendar in September.

***WEC CEO Frederic Lequien told Sportscar365: “If we had to choose one event in Europe [to add], it’s Silverstone, of course. It’s a fantastic place for motorsport, for endurance racing. We know we have a very strong fanbase in the UK and the UK fans deserve to have the WEC. Now I think we find a very good balance in the calendar with one more additional round in Europe.”

***Both Qatar and Bahrain are on the 2027 calendar, while ACO President Pierre Fillon confirmed that a decision on whether to move ahead with this year’s races in the Middle East will be taken by the middle of July, with the 2026-27 Asian Le Mans Series calendar set to be officially announced at the same time. As reported on Thursday, both Barcelona and Monza could serve as the season-ending WEC races this year.

***The Hypercar tire supplier for the 2030-32 WEC seasons, meanwhile, will be announced early next month following an e-vote at the next FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting according to Lequien. News on the deal was due to be made on Friday although Fillon told Sportscar365 that it’s “taken more time than we were expecting.”

***Bahrain International Circuit, meanwhile, has inked a long-term extension with the WEC that will see it on the calendar until at least 2036. The Middle Eastern nation has hosted 14 WEC races to date.

***LMP3 cars in the Asian Le Mans Series will be moved into the newly announced Asian Le Mans Cup series, which will feature a three-class structure in LMP3, LMP3 Pro-Am and GT3 and is set to closely follow the format of the Michelin Le Mans Cup. The top class will be for FIA Gold and Silver-rated drivers, while LMP3 Pro-Am and GT3 must have at least one Bronze driver in each lineup. Platinum drivers will not eligible to compete in the series.

***The ACO has also clarified the new Hypercar class in the Asian Le Mans Series will only have one Gold or Platinum-rated driver per lineup, alongside a mandatory Bronze driver and either a Bronze or Silver-rated driver. Fillon told reporters he expects between three and six Hypercar entries for the 2026-27 season. LMP2 and GT3 categories will continue in the flagship Asian series.

***The Sustainable Endurance Award by DHL, in its sixth edition, was handed out during the press conference, which saw Cadillac take the award in Hypercar, TDS Racing in LMP2, WRT in LMGT3 and Ferrari claiming the ‘Public Award.’

***Genesis showcased two evolved X Gran Convertible Concept models, originally introduced at the 2025 Seoul Mobility Show, during the drivers’ parade in downtown Le Mans this afternoon. The vehicles were driven by Genesis brand ambassador and race advisor Jacky Ickx and reserve driver and Genesis Magma Racing trajectory driver Jamie Chadwick.

***The Korean manufacturer also revealed plans to introduce hydrogen-powered transporters for its WEC team, which would be used for the European rounds.

***Ford Racing global director Mark Rushbrook admitted they didn’t expect to have signed, and announced, all six of its Hypercar drivers for 2027 by this time of the year. Sportscar365 understands plans were initially in place to confirm only Matt Campbell at Le Mans this week, but the ‘Blue Oval’ quickly rushed in on Acura IMSA GTP free agents Tom Blomqvist and Nick Yelloly.

***Rushbrook told reporters: “To be very honest, as I always am, we did not plan to announce all six drivers [by now]. But with the driver market shaking up a little bit, opportunities presented themselves and obviously we’ve taken advantage of those opportunities and we were able to finalize deals and announce them here.”

***Ford WEC Hypercar program manager Dan Sayers, meanwhile, revealed that its yet-to-be-named LMDh-based prototype is scheduled for an Aug. 5 rollout in Le Castellet, with the test car’s 5.4-liter Coyote V8 engine set to arrive at ORECA’s headquarters tomorrow, which will then be paired with the first chassis, which is already in build.

***Sayers added: “We are still flat out in Dearborn developing the engine hardware, the powertrain software, so that will now continue throughout the program. The guys in Charlotte are developing updates now. We’ve got the rollout car finished for the design but they’re already designing updates for the track testing.”

***Fellow 2027 Hypercar debutant McLaren, which has already completed its rollout and first test in Italy, is set for a “busy month” of testing according to McLaren Endurance executive director James Barclay, who confirmed they’ve signed four of its six drivers. So far, only Mikkel Jensen and Laurens Vanthoor have been announced.

***Barclay told Sportscar365: “We have some seats available but we’re taking our time on the final two seats. We’re really happy with our first four.” It’s believed that Alex Lynn and Mike Conway are the likely two drivers that have been signed by the British manufacturer.

***Yutaka Sanada, the boss of Nissan’s motorsport arm NMC (Nissan Motorsports & Customizing), was spotted in the paddock on Friday. The Japanese brand is currently involved in FIA Formula E, SUPER GT and customer racing at GT3 and GT4 level, but has periodically been linked to a return to top-level sports car racing in recent years.

***Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Stefan Wendl said he’s had a “steady exchange” with the ACO over the future of the German manufacturer’s LMGT3 entries in WEC and is “not concerned for the current point” despite an expected increased grid next year, that could grow by as much as six cars in Hypercar.

***Wendl told Sportscar365: “We have very good conversations with them and we have constructive meetings. In the end, there’s several different influencing factors, the number of cars and so on, which could influence those decisions.”

***Antonio Felix da Costa reckons the opening portion of tomorrow’s race could effectively be a test session for the Hypercar teams as they continue to get to grips with the new Michelin rubber. Temperatures are due to be substantially hotter for the race than the test day, practice and qualifying sessions, therefore limiting the usefulness of data gathered so far.

***Da Costa told Sportscar365: “It might be that all the learnings we are doing now, they are almost for nothing. How good can we anticipate things, I think that’s going to be a big part of it.”

***While suggesting that using the first portion of the race to gather more data could be possible, he added: “But, having said that, last year’s race only had one safety car, so things don’t get neutralized here very much. If it was IMSA, you could really take the first ten hours to still test things but that’s not the case here. I don’t think we should stress if we lose a little bit of time in the first few hours, but you might not get those back.”

***Four entries feature all-rookie driver lineups this year: No. 37 CLX Motorsport Oreca 07 Gibson (Ian Aguilera, Adrien Closmenil, Theodor Jensen), No. 62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo (Abdulla Al-Khelaifi, Giuliano Alesi, Julian Hanses), No. 69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO (McIntosh, Thompson, Harper) and No. 74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo (Dustin Blattner, Dennis Marschall, Lorenzo Patrese).

***Romain Dumas is set for his 24th start in the race, which would put the Frenchman joint fifth on the all-time list alongside Emmanuel Collard, Jan Lammers and Francois Migault. The ex-Audi and Porsche factory driver remarkably made 22 consecutive starts from 2001-24, claiming overall honors in 2010 and 2016, along with GTE-Pro class win in 2013.

***Fifteen of the 22 full-season GTP drivers from the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship are either on the Hypercar or LMP2 grids this year. Additionally, four GTD Pro drivers (Jack Hawksworth, Nicky Catsburg, Harry King, Ben Barnicoat) are also racing along with six full-timers from GTD (Tom Gamble, Eduardo Barrichello, Matt Bell, Orey Fidani and Valentin-Hasse Clot).

***BMW M Team WRT has remained with the same car numbers for its BMW M Hybrid V8 since its Hypercar debut in 2024. The No. 15 is the same car number that the Schnitzer-run BMW V12 LMR used that took victory at Le Mans in 1999, BMW’s last overall triumph in the race, while the No. 20 was used in honor of BMW’s 20th Art Car, which the team ran at Le Mans in 2024.

***With Porsche withdrawing from WEC Hypercar competition, this year’s race marks its smallest entry since the 1951 event, when the Porsche 356 SL Coupe of Auguste Veuillet and Edmond Mouche took the S 1.1 class victory in the German manufacturer’s Le Mans debut.

***As part of Porsche Motorsport’s 75 Year celebrations, the original 356 SL is on-site this weekend and took part in a photo shoot with the two Manthey-run Porsche 911 GT3 R Evos, which are sporting tribute liveries to the original race-winning model.

***Manthey is undefeated in LMGT3 competition at Le Mans, having taken the wins in both 2024 and 2025. Richard Lietz, who is seeking his seventh Le Mans class victory this weekend, was part of the lineup in both editions.

***Among the plethora of production cars on display from manufacturers this weekend is the recently launched Ferrari Luce EV, which is located in the Ferrari Village, near Karting. Chinese EV giant BYD, which has been in discussions with Signatech and Alpine for a potential takeover of its Hypercar program, has a display in the fan village that includes the BYD Seal U DM-i, the official leading car for the FFSA French GT Championship, as part of a new-for-2026 partnership.

***A 15-minute warmup session is on tap for Saturday at 12 p.m., prior to pre-race ceremonies and the drop of the tri-colour at 4 p.m. CEST (10 a.m. EST). Live coverage will be available on numerous streaming platforms and networks around the world, including on FIAWEC+ globally, HBO Max, MotorTrend and TruTV in the U.S., TNT Sports in the UK, Eurosport throughout Europe and Stan Sport in Australia. Radio Le Mans is available trackside on 91.2 FM and online on RS1.

Jamie Klein & Stephen Lickorish contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John