Detroit, MI
Detroit at Le Mans: Cadillac favorite, Ford poised for 2027
An American V-8 will be on the front row of France’s 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday. And the roar is about to get louder.
Motor City brands are front-and-center for the Saturday-Sunday, June 13-14 World Endurance Championship epic. A Cadillac Hypercar qualified on the front row for the second year in a row, while Ford announced its Hypercar driver lineup for 2027 as it prepares a sequel to its historic 1966-69 overall wins. That era was immortalized in the 2019 blockbuster film “Ford v Ferrari.”
Cadillac is determined to write its own chapter in the Le Mans history books.
The Detroit brand will be one of the favorites to dethrone defending champion Ferrari with three competitive V-Series.R Hypercars. A year after it won pole, the England-based, #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R secured second in qualifying behind the #15 BMW M Team car for the world’s premier sportscar race after its sister, #38 Team JOTA Cadillac won pole before being demoted to 10th over a technical infraction. A third, #101 Cadillac entered by U.S.-based Wayne Taylor Racing will start fifth.
“It was a good day for the team,” said #12 Cadillac ace Will Stevens after his 3:23.1 lap around the 8.5-mile track 130 miles west of Paris. “Thank you to everyone who has been involved in improving the package compared to last year. We know we are in a better position. It’s going to be a very exciting race, and I think it will be a battle.”
Also sharing Hypercar headlines this year is Ford, which will bring a thundering, Mustang-based, 5.4-liter Coyote V-8 to Le Mans’ legendary 200-mph Mulsanne straightaway in 2027. The Hypercar class has grown in popularity thanks to its formula of combining a hybrid-electric drivetrain (which dovetails with current production electrification trends) and the gas engine of the manufacturer’s choice.
For Motor City brands, that means earthshaking V-8s.
Ford Racing announced its driver’s lineup at the track for its first entry into top class since it dominated Le Mans six decades ago with the legendary GT40. It will join a packed Hypercar field next year with entries from Cadillac, McLaren, Toyota, Ferrari, Aston Martin, BMW, Peugeot, Alpine and Genesis (which debuts this year).
Motor City makers have ramped up their assault on Le Mans as they have taken their production models to international markets. The Cadillac Hypercar’s hybrid powertrain complements Cadillac’s electrification strategy as it now sells Optiq, Lyriq and Visitq EVs in Europe — including from its flagship showroom in downtown Paris.
The Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Mustang sell in markets across the globe and their GT3 cars — which will be competing for glory in the Le Mans GT3 class — are sold to international racing teams.
Ford will bring a formidable driver lineup in 2027.
IMSA Weathertech Sportscar champion Matt Campbell, Le Mans class-winner Nick Yelloly and IMSA champion and ex-IndyCar racer Tom Blomqvist complete an all-star, six-driver roster that includes the already-announced lineup of IMSA-champ Mike Rockenfeller, ex-Formula One racer Logan Sargeant and GT3-ace Sebastian Priaulx (the latter pair are competing at this year’s Le Mans in Mustangs).
“As America’s Race Team, it is only right we carry the banner ourselves. With the additions of Matt, Nick and Tom alongside Logan, Rocky and Seb, we have finalized a driver lineup capable of winning races,” said Ford Racing Global Director Mark Rushbrook. “We aren’t just returning to Le Mans to participate — we are returning to fight for overall victory.”
Campbell’s presence on the Ford Racing team, however, represents the loss of another Detroit racing brand at Le Mans, Team Penske.
Partnered with Porsche, Penske nearly won in 2025, finishing second to Ferrari. Financial troubles compelled Porsche to pull its Le Mans racing program this year. Campbell’s co-drivers, Yelloly and Blomqvist, are refugees from Acura’s IMSA Weathetech program. Acura pulled the plug after parent Honda, like Porsche, suffered losses related to electrification and Chinese market investments.
The #38 Team JOTA Cadillac celebrated after Hypercar qualifying when ace driver Jack Aitken (who also races for Cadillac in North America’s IMSA series) set a Hypercar-era record lap of 3:22.559 — just five thousandths of a second quicker than the #15 BMW M Team Hybrid V-8.
A pit lane infraction, however, robbed the Caddy of pole glory. BMW won the last WEC race at Spa in Belgium.
Cadillac’s prospects to win this year have improved — not just because of the withdrawal of Porsche Penske — but because its so-called LMDh Hypecar chassis appears to be the quickest design.
Like BMW and the French Alpine team (and Ford next year), Cadillac’s LMDh car was developed using a third-party chassis manufacturer (even as powertrains are homegrown). Cadillac, for example, partners on its chassis with Italy’s Dallara. So-called LMH cars are made in-house — for example, the Ferrari and Toyota teams. This year Cadillac, BMW and Alpine (which qualified third) consistently topped the class of the field in practice and qualifying.
Defending champion Ferrari has entered three Hypercars, with its top qualifier in 8th. The #009 Aston Martin THOR Valkyrie in seventh is the quickest LMH chassis. Toyota’s LMH Hypercar, which has consistently been a threat for overall Le Mans wins, qualified 14th and 15th.
“(Thursday qualifying) we saw there was a two-class qualifying with LMDh on top and LMH behind. That seems to be the picture,” said Toyota Racing technical director David Floury. “We are focused on optimizing our package, and the rest is not in our control.”
In the production-based GT class, V8-powered beasts from Corvette (two entries) and Mustang (two entries) will compete for a class win Sunday as well.
The #77 and #88 Mustang GT3s will start 10th and 11th Sunday while four Corvette Z06 GT3.R entries will start 17th, 23rd, 24th and 25th in class.
The green flag drops at 4 p.m. (10 a.m. EDT) Saturday in France.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.