​Image Credit: FordThe FIA World Endurance Championship is enjoying a purple patch right now, with great racing and an influx of manufacturers in the hypercar category. In 2027, that is set to expand further as McLaren and Ford join the party with their own entries.Ford’s entry to the hypercar category is perhaps the most exciting of the two. The Blue Oval has not been at the top level of sports car racing for some years, although it has competed in the GT categories and is currently running the Ford Mustang in the GT3 category in 2026.The new hypercar, meanwhile, has been out testing ahead of its debut race in 2027. For now, Ford is focusing on the WEC and is not yet adding cars to the IMSA Sports Car Series in the United States, although it has been built to comply with the LMDh regulations to compete at events like Daytona.The testing program appears to have stepped up a gear, as the new car recently completed over 1,000km of testing at the Paul Ricard circuit in France. Ford, of course, wants to be as competitive as possible by the time the 2027 WEC season rolls around.How Has Testing Gone for the New Ford Hypercar?Image Credit: FordThe 1,000km of track testing appears to have gone very well for the new hypercar challenger. It’s only a few weeks ago that Ford fired up the car for the first time at the ORECA workshops. Initially, the car carried out low-speed running at the Driving Center located at the Paul Ricard circuit. The track hosted the Formula 1 French GP as recently as 2022.Testing then continued on the full circuit, which is located next to the ORECA Technocentre where the car was designed and developed. The car uses an ORECA chassis. As it was built under the LMDh ruleset and not the LMH rules, the car uses an off-the-shelf chassis, but all the aero, bodywork, and engine are from Ford.Dan Sayers, WEC Hypercar program manager at Ford Racing, said, “Reaching Paul Ricard and getting the car through its shakedown and three full days of running is exactly the milestone we set out to hit.” So far, it all sounds very promising for a program very much in its infancy still. Ford still has lots of milestones ahead of it and plenty of other things it needs to tick off. But the signs are promising, and it will join McLaren in 2027 as debutants in the hypercar category.The WEC Is Enjoying a Purple Patch of ManufacturersImage Credit: FIA WECPorsche’s decision to pull out of the WEC at the end of 2025 could have massively impacted the series, but so far, it doesn’t appear to have done so. Peugeot, Toyota, Ferrari, Cadillac and Aston Martin all appear to be in it for the long term. Alpine, however, is pulling out at the end of 2026, despite having produced a very competitive car for the current season. Genesis, Hyundai’s luxury division, also entered the fray in 2026 and has produced a very competitive car in their first full season.The GT3 category has also produced excellent racing, with cars from Ford, Porsche, Aston Martin, and Chevrolet all