HONDA NEARS 2027 WEC RETURN WITH ARX-06 HYPERCAR PROGRAMME
As per The Race, Honda is closer than ever to a factory return to the top class of the World Endurance Championship, with a programme built around its ARX‑06 prototype and a potential launch of 2027. While nothing is signed yet, serious talks with partner teams and a clearer internal roadmap mean this long spoken about step now looks more realistic than at any point in the past decade.
Why Honda is looking at WEC again
In recent years, Honda’s endurance ambitions took a back seat to its commitments in Formula 1 and MotoGP, despite the ARX‑06 already proving itself as a front-running LMDh car in IMSA. The combination of Honda Performance Development in the United States with Honda Racing Corporation in Japan at the end of 2023 created a global structure and reopened the discussion about a WEC effort.
HRC US president David Salters noted, “The WEC is growing and growing, and who doesn’t want to do the Le Mans 24 Hours?” while HRC Japan president Koji Watanabe emphasized uniting Honda motorsports globally to boost the HRC brand.
The ARX‑06 as the core of the plan
Honda’s modern LMDh contender, campaigned as an Acura in IMSA, has already taken major wins such as the Daytona 24 Hours, Petit Le Mans and the Sebring 12 Hours, underlining that the car is competitive enough for a global stage. Because LMDh machinery can run in both IMSA and WEC’s Hypercar class, extending the ARX‑06’s footprint to the world championship would be a logical way to leverage an existing, proven platform. Any WEC entry would almost certainly race under the Honda banner rather than Acura, given Acura’s branding focus on the North American market.
How a WEC programme could be structured
Honda does not intend to fully bankroll a WEC operation alone and is instead exploring a model that mirrors its IMSA approach, with one car run directly under HRC management and at least one additional car operated by a partner team. Inter Europol Competition, a team with recent Le Mans LMP2 victories and an IMSA class title, has emerged as a likely candidate to join forces for this project. Such a partnership could allow multiple ARX‑06 entries at Le Mans, increasing Honda’s chances in the race while sharing costs and responsibilities between factory and customer-style efforts.
Timing and decision factors
HRC long maintained that it would not commit to WEC until an LMDh car had won Le Mans outright, a milestone that has now been achieved and removes one of the major internal reservations. With design work for Honda’s new Formula 1 power unit for Aston Martin complete and the car already testing, some engineering capacity has also been freed, making a fresh programme more manageable. A start as early as 2027 is being discussed, but the final green light still depends on securing the right partner deal and satisfying Honda’s strategic and financial conditions.
Honda’s unfinished Le Mans story
If the ARX‑06 joins WEC, it would mark Honda’s first appearance in the series’ top class since its HPD-branded LMP1 effort ended after the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours. Earlier HPD prototypes enjoyed notable success in LMP2, including two Le Mans class wins and a WEC title achieved with private teams rather than a full works squad. Honda’s only official factory Le Mans outing so far dates back to the 1990s GT era, when NSX-based entries failed to finish, leaving the manufacturer with a sense of unfinished business at the French classic that this new project could finally address
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