The test programme for Ford Racing’s ORECA-based LMDh Hypercar is accelerating, with the marque’s maiden endurance test scheduled to take place at Motorland Aragon next month.
The 5.4-litre V8-powered machine has run at Circuit Paul Ricard, Portimão and Silverstone after first taking to the track at the beginning of August, with its next test set to be held at Monza.
The Italian venue, notably, will see a second car join the test programme for the first time, with Ford Racing planning to run two cars at each test from here on out before the car makes its FIA World Endurance Championship debut at the 2027 season-opening Qatar 1812KM.
This second test car will be the third chassis produced of the soon-to-be-named machine, with the programme currently utilising one chassis for track testing and one for wind tunnel work.
“The beauty of having two cars at the test is that we can focus one on control systems and such, and one can do pure mechanical setup work,” programme manager Dan Sayers told reporters. “We can we can learn twice as much, twice as quickly.”
After the two-car milestone, the next key on-track moment for the programme will come at Motorland Aragon, Spain with the first endurance test. This will not be the first night running for the car, however, with it having already taken to the track under the cover of darkness in Portimão.
“We did a bit of night running in Portimão,” Sayers confirmed. “I think Motorland will be interesting when we run through the night because that’s going to be a continuous test.
“All the learnings from that, and I’m sure there will be some, will be put into place for the later endurance test in Sebring, which is in the new year.”
Sebring International Raceway will form the centrepiece of the upcoming US-based stage of the car’s test programme, which will also include a visit to the Circuit of The Americas.
“The primary reason for going to the States is Sebring,” explained Sayers.
“As we all know, it’s a decent car breaker, so we want to go there and test it for durability. That’s relatively late in the test programme for obvious reasons, but to go and test around Sebring, and then go back in the new year for an endurance test there, we think is the best sign-off.”
Although the test programme isn’t yet in North America, Ford Racing’s US-based engineers are already contributing to the test programme, with them taking advantage of the time difference to perform overnight work during the car’s recent two-day test at Silverstone.
“The time offset is definitely a benefit and something that we didn’t make use of the first two tests because we just wanted to take things in our stride,” Sayers admitted.
“But at Silverstone we had people hitched up to the intercom and basically part of the team. The great thing is they join for the afternoon. They get a grip on what’s happening, they catch up on the morning, and they can be working through the evening when we’re trying to get some sleep.
“They can be working on updates, on analysis, whatever it might be for for the next day, so that’s proving proving really beneficial.”
Ford Racing’s goal is to have the car ready to be homologated by the end of this year, which would mean that the homologated version could participate in the final stages of testing.
Although the car is now close to its final form, work is still ongoing on determining the exact specification in which the LMDh challenger will compete next year.
“In terms of homologation, we’ve gone through all of the CFD running so far,” Sayers explained. “We’re gearing up towards the final homologation at the end of the year, including the wind tunnel test, and that’s what we’re getting ready for now.
“Making sure we are in the [aerodynamic] box, making sure everything is final, all of the durability updates and everything that we will find throughout the testing, which will update the homologation. But we’re on track with that, so that’s all good.
“It’s mainly durability parts that we’ll be updating. So whether it be the engine specification, the exhausts, anything to do with the powertrain. We can update quite late as we find these things. But the rest of the spine is pretty much fixed, it’s all homologated already.
“Brakes is another one which we’re getting close to finalising, but brakes can be hugely influential on control systems. That’s an important one to get right, so we’re leaving those quite late.”
The three tests to date have each seen different objectives met, as the intensity of the development programme has ramped up.
For the car’s maiden outing at the Circuit Paul Ricard, a focus was placed on ensuring the team had time to apply its learnings between each time the car ventured onto the circuit. Running at the French venue began with a series of four half-day shakedowns at the circuit’s driving centre, before three one-day tests on the main layout with rest days in between.
“[The shakedowns] were all very successful,” Sayers said. “The car started, pulled away, drove round. We did all of the systems checks, and it was invaluable time before we hit the main track.
“We then did three days at Paul Ricard, which were intentionally spaced apart. We did one day, then we had a second day, which had a gap in between, and then we had a third day with four days in between, just to allow us to dig into the data to make improvements.
“The rate of development is obviously rapid at this time, all in dry conditions, three drivers sharing duties, and we came away from there very positive.
“We then moved on to Portimão, which was far more challenging. It was four days consecutively, which is pretty brutal with a new car, so we had quite a few late nights, but again some good weather and solid running, and we’re still learning a huge amount about not just the car, but the systems, and Ford Racing in-house powertrain. Again, we came away with very good mileage, and we’d advanced the braking systems, the hybrid control systems and the calibration of the engine.
“Everything’s moving forward at quite a rate. We’re obviously having to pack these tests in quite quickly because time is of the essence, and it’s quite a compromise to try and pack them in but also give yourself enough time in between the tests to do due diligence, make the upgrades, analyse the data, test on the simulator and offline simulations for all the software, and then go to the next test.
“Recently we came to Silverstone, and that was typical UK weather, which was actually quite good at that point. We had all of the seasons both days, and that really allowed us to move quite far forward with all of the different tyre compounds and understanding all of the slicks.
“We ran on all the compounds to understand how the car behaves in the wet, and tested all of the car control systems in the wet just to prove that they were functioning as expected in in all conditions. We covered close to 1,300 kilometres in two days, so a very positive test.”
Alongside the wet running, Silverstone also offered another breakthrough. The opportunity to bring all of the team members who will make up Ford Racing’s FIA WEC programme together for the first time.
“We eventually had the full structure there, all team members, and that made a massive difference in how we operated,” Sayers said.
“If you operate seamlessly, then you can get a lot more done in the days, so that was shown in the mileage we managed. Obviously that’s not the only metric we use, but if you’re doing good mileage, normally you’ll learn each time you’re going out on track.
“So the way the team performed was very good, but also the systems are developing all the time. The trackside tools, all the software, the analysis techniques, everything’s advancing. One of the hardest things is bringing three groups together [Ford Racing in Detroit, Ford Racing in Charlotte and Venture Engineering in the UK] from three different sites and functioning as a team, so that’s something we’re working quite hard on at the moment, and something that is improving each time we go out.”
Although he did not participate in the most recent test, Ford Racing Hypercar driver Matt Campbell has had a taste of his future ride at both Circuit Paul Ricard and Portimão, with the Australian particularly impressed by the drivability and reliability of the car at this early stage.
“It’s been going very well,” he said.
“To be honest, the Paul Ricard test especially went almost too smooth for the first ever time for an on-track test. It was a fantastic first time in the car for myself.
“Portimão was much more challenging, four days and a lot of late nights, but I think we really started to understand a few areas that we need to focus on. Everything around the systems and hybrid side of things will take a long time to develop, there’s no question about that, and that will also go into next year.”
Campbell is no stranger to the LMDh regulations, having been part of the Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 programme since its inception. The switch to Ford Racing has, however, brought with it a change of spine from Multimatic to ORECA.
“I’ve been working already with the team since January, in the simulator and so forth, trying to develop as much as we can off the track in terms of systems and from my past learnings from somewhere else,” Campbell said.
“Coming from a different spine has been one of the most noticeable things, and that’s in many points of view, whether that’s driver comfort in the car, different ergonomics and so forth, and obviously the system side of things.
The 31-year-old has been particularly taken with the Ford’s Coyote engine, which has been developed in-house for this programme.
“The strength so far has been on the engine side, the feeling that we get, and the usability of the engine from the driving point of view,” he said. “I think it’s going to integrate very well with all the systems when we get them more or less sorted.
“I don’t think there’s necessarily one huge weakness at the moment; it’s just all those one percenters that add up. This process has been very rapid going into the start of next year, but I know from my past experience how challenging the systems can be, and definitely for me this is a huge focus because it takes time.
“It’s not going to be perfect by round one, and there’s going to be continual development through year one and even into year two. This is such a huge aspect of these cars, and can really funnel down to the mechanical feeling of the car if you get it wrong, so this is the most challenging, but it’s also the same for everyone on the grid.”
Campbell will be joined next year by Tom Blomqvist, Sebastian Priaulx, Mike Rockenfeller, Logan Sargeant and Nick Yelloly in Ford’s driver line-up. How this sextet will be split across two cars, however, is still to be determined, with November’s Motorland Aragon endurance test set to play a key role in this decision.
“We haven’t decided who’s in which car at the moment,” Sayers said.
“That will come towards the end of the year when we’ve done the first endurance test and seen how they operate together, even down to the ergonomics in the car. There’s several factors that go into it, so it’s something we’re not rushing. We don’t feel the need to decide that straight away.”
The next news update from Ford Racing in the coming weeks is set to be confirmation of the name of its new Hypercar…watch this space!
Images courtesy of Ford Racing/Drew Gibson Photography
