Ford says it is interested in winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright if common rules between IMSA and the FIA are established.
Discussions are currently being held within the World Endurance Championship to determine regulations for 2021 and beyond. It is possible that it could be decided that LMP1 prototypes share a common platform with next-generation DPi machines, allowing for a crossover between the two series’.
Speaking to Sportscar365 about the prospect of LMP1 and DPi cars becoming more similar, executive vice president of Ford North America Raj Nair said it could be interested in a factory-backed prototype project.
“I think the global aspect of it is going to be important for a lot of manufacturers, but particularly for Ford. We’d really like to see something that’s more common between IMSA and WEC. It’s just the obvious opportunity.
“When we talk about affordability, I think the organizers can’t just look at their series in isolation. If you were to look across series, and think about what that’s going to do for participation and budget efficiency and getting more cars on the grid and all of that. It’s difficult to do, but it’s kind of an obvious solution we’d like more work on, to get to that common IMSA, WEC, ACO, FIA view,” Nair said.
If the WEC and WeatherTech SportsCar Championship were to use a shared platform for their prototypes, it could allow Ford to race in both championships, like it does with the Ford GT because of the similarities between GTLM and GTE series’.
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