Ford Performance Hasn’t Written Out EV Le Mans Garage 56 Entry

Ford was synonymous with the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the late 1960s, but  the automaker has been notably absent from the event’s prototype class for decades. That will soon change as The Blue Oval is headed back to the division with a brand-new race car in 2027. While that entry will be a full-time points competitor, Ford Performance says that it hasn’t written out bringing a one-off race car to the iconic endurance event as part of the Garage 56 initiative.

According to a recent report from The Drive, Ford Performance head Mark Rushbrook emphasized the importance of the automaker’s “EV demonstrators.” These are one-of-a-kind electric racing machines that are built to showcase Ford’s innovation in the EV space while providing valuable data for the automaker’s roadgoing lineup. And one such demonstrator could be a perfect addition to the Garage 56 program at Le Mans, an idea that Ford hasn’t completely written off.

“We’ve talked about [a Le Mans demonstrator] a lot across the years,” Rushbrook said. “The only thing I would say, maybe why we haven’t done it, is the cost to run a 24-hour race is staggeringly high. So the cost of the demonstrator in that space would be way above what we’re spending normally. But yeah, you never know.”

Garage 56 is a non-competitive, invite-only class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, designed to showcase experimental technology without interfering with the traditional race field. Ford Performance rival Chevrolet Racing entered a NASCAR-based Camaro ZL1 race car into the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans as a one-off Garage 56 experiment, as reported by our sister publication, GM Authority.

If Ford Performance does end up creating a Garage 56 entry, it might not see track time for a while yet. Right now, The Blue Oval has its hands full with its Hypercar program. In fact, the automaker only recently revealed some key details regarding the forthcoming race car: it tapped chassis manufacturer ORECA to supply the bones of the machine, while Dan Sayers will head the Hypercar Program for Ford Performance.