Honda Could Enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans As Early As 2027

Through its U.S. luxury brand Acura, Honda has been a major contender in IMSA's top prototype class since its ARX program returned in 2018. While the last two Acura prototypes have been championship and major race winners in America, the company has been reluctant to commit to any program that would put a Honda or Acura on the grid at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. According to two reports published on Friday, however, that could be changing very soon.

According to sources cited in separate stories by DailySportsCar and The Race, Honda is on the verge of approving a program that would send the LMDh-based ARX-06 to Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship starting in 2027. The deal is expected to feature Inter Europol Competition, a major player in European LMP2 racing, as a service provider in a role similar to the one Meyer Shank Racing currently fills in IMSA GTP.

While the ARX-06 started as a project of what was then Honda Performance Development, the U.S.-based Honda competition arm has since been merged into the global Honda Racing Corporation as HRC US. That makes the Acura-badged prototype a global Honda product—one that would likely race under a Honda badge if it were to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship and, starting next year, the Asian Le Mans Series.

In IMSA, HRC US currently operates one of its two ARX-06 entries in partnership with Meyer Shank. Since WEC rules mandate two full-time entries to race at Le Mans, the global HRC organization could enter into a similar partnership with Inter Europol. A two-car WEC entry, a requirement for any car to race at Le Mans, would also open the door for the American Acura programs to apply for their own one-off spots on the 2027 24 Hours of Le Mans grid. Cadillac and Porsche both took advantage of that opportunity in previous years, while BMW has notably passed on it with its own two-championship entry.

Honda would join Ford and McLaren as new additions to the 2027 World Endurance Championship field. Existing programs from Toyota, Ferrari, Cadillac, Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, and Peugeot are expected to continue into 2027, as is a new program from Genesis set to kick off this season. Porsche, which still races in IMSA with its WEC title-winning 963, dropped out of the European championship for the upcoming season.

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