Carmakers are returning to the WEC because the Hypercar class, with its LMH and LMDh rules and the Balance of Performance, lets them race to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans at lower cost and risk, testing on track technologies that later reach road cars. In 2026 eight manufacturers race in the Hypercar class (Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Genesis, Peugeot and Toyota) and in 2027 Ford and McLaren will join them.

Updated September 2026.

The WEC, the FIA World Endurance Championship, is the series that has done more than any other to bring the big brands back to endurance racing. The picture is busier than when we wrote this article in 2023: some marques arrived, one (Porsche) left the top class, others are on their way. Understanding why carmakers return, and why they sometimes leave, is the best way to judge what the WEC offers sponsors today.

Why manufacturers choose the WEC: the short answer

For two reasons that sports marketing knows well. The first is road relevance: racing cars are prototypes with solutions that can end up in production cars, and a 24-hour race is an extreme reliability test. The second is visibility: with events on several continents, the WEC offers a global showcase to brands whose core business is the car itself. And unlike a two-hour Grand Prix, the 24 Hours rewards whoever is both fast and reliable.

Hypercar: LMH and LMDh explained

Since 2021 Hypercar has been the top class of the WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with two types of car allowed: Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) and Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh), the latter since 2022. LMH leaves manufacturers great design freedom, including the option of a front-axle hybrid system: these are cars designed almost from scratch, like those of Toyota, Ferrari and Peugeot.

LMDh is the cheaper way in. The base chassis comes from one of four suppliers (Dallara, Multimatic, Ligier and Oreca) and the hybrid system is identical for everyone, with the gearbox from Xtrac, the motor-generator from Bosch and batteries from Williams Advanced Engineering. The manufacturer adds the combustion engine and the bodywork, in other words the brand’s identity. It is the formula chosen by, among others, Cadillac, BMW and Alpine.

To let such different cars compete on equal terms, the series uses the Balance of Performance (BoP), a set of technical adjustments, mainly to weight and power, that aims to level performance between the two platforms. For manufacturers it means something simple: you can win without having to outspend everyone else.

Who is on the grid in 2026 and who joins in 2027

In 2026 the Hypercar class fields eight manufacturers: Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Genesis, Peugeot and Toyota. The newcomer is Genesis, the Hyundai group’s luxury brand, making its debut with the GMR-001. Porsche, on the other hand, is gone from the Hypercar class: Porsche Penske Motorsport and Proton have stepped back, and the German marque remains in the WEC only in the LMGT3 class with customer teams.

The movement continues. In 2027 two new LMDh cars are expected: Ford’s, with an Oreca chassis and a V8, and McLaren’s, with a Dallara chassis and a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6, the MCL-HY. It is a good reminder for sponsors: championship grids change, and the value of a deal also depends on the number and quality of the manufacturers present. For a picture of the costs, see our guide to WEC sponsorship.

From track to road: what endurance racing invented

The WEC has always been a laboratory. Disc brakes, for example, established themselves at Le Mans in 1953, when the Jaguar C-Type won on disc brakes and pushed the industry to fit them to production cars too. The same goes for windscreen wipers, LED headlights and hybrid systems, which were developed or refined in racing before reaching everyday cars. That is why manufacturers use the track to communicate innovation, a story that intertwines with the sustainable transition, which we discuss in our article on sustainability and motorsport sponsorship.

Le Mans 2026: the WEC’s showcase

The 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans, on 13 and 14 June, showed what a manufacturer is looking for: the number 7 Toyota of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries won ahead of the number 20 BMW by a margin of about ten seconds, after 48 lead changes and 5,190 km. For Toyota it was a sixth win, the same as Bentley. The attendance at the circuit was 350,105. A race this closely fought, in which every manufacturer is a story to tell, is exactly the kind of setting where a brand can associate itself with expertise and innovation. To understand what a brand can buy at the 24 Hours, read our guide to sponsorship at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

What it means for sponsors

The WEC is still less popular than Formula 1, but it has a global audience and a profile well suited to technology, energy, mobility and sustainability brands. A sponsor should not expect the media boom of F1: it should judge the WEC for what it is, a platform where technology is the story, with manufacturers that invest seriously and an international calendar. If you are comparing the two routes, our analysis WEC versus F1 sets the two platforms side by side.

Sources: 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 2026 WEC entry list; Endurance & GT, 2026 WEC entry list; Pit De Brief, the 2026 Hypercar field; 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 2026 key figures; Motorsport.com, Ford and McLaren in the 2027 WEC; FIA WEC, what’s on your car that was developed in endurance racing; Professional Motorsport World, the LMDh hybrid system; FIA, what is Balance of Performance.