In 2027, Silverstone will make its return to the World Endurance Championship calendar joining as the series' ninth round. Thanks to Le Mans Ultimate, we get to preview what the race will look like, so here is all the weather, timing, strategy and performance to look out for.
Cast your mind back 12 months and you will remember that the first ACO rules event in the United Kingdom took place when the European Le Mans Series embarked on a four-hour event around Silverstone. For a while, that rain-soaked round was touted as a trial for a potential return of the World Endurance Championship to the home of the British Grand Prix.
And now, motorsport's worst kept secret has been confirmed. At this year's Le Mans 24 Hours pre-race press conference, the ACO unveiled its 2027 calendar, including a return to England for a six-hour race for Hypercar and LMGT3 machinery.
It has been a while since the premier endurance racing series took to the fast-flowing Silverstone circuit. But thanks to last year's ELMS Season Pass DLC for Le Mans Ultimate, we now have everything we need to recreate the race a whole year before it will actually go ahead, so we did. Here is how it went and what we learnt in the process.
Silverstone 6 Hours In LMU
For the sake of a quick test in LMU to see just what a WEC Silverstone event would look like in the modern era, we decided to run a simple two-hour race with both Hypercar and LMGT3 machinery. Obviously still lacking the McLaren and Ford Hypercars joining the field in 2027, we ran the race with the newly launched 2026 grid, meaning the race included both the new-shape Toyota TR010 and all-new Genesis GMR001 alongside the rest of the Porsche-less grid.
Shocklingly, we have no idea what the weather will look like on 25 April 2027, when the real life race is set to run. But thanks to a little research, it turns out historical weather data points towards this year's 25 April was a nice clear Spring day around Silverstone hitting a pleasant 20°C - sounds like a dream compared to our current late-June 40s - and so those are the conditions our preview event would get.
The Aston Martin Valkyrie is fast at Silverstone in LMU.
And after a brief 10-minute qualifying session for all classes, Augusto Farfus took the honours in GT for BMW but it was a shock pole position for the Aston Martin #007 ahead of its teammate car. Brits on top at home ahead of the race.
An Entertaining Race Ahead
But a race is not won in qualifying and certainly not in the World Endurance Championship. At the first corner in Hypercar, the two Aston Martin Valkyries slowed each other down through the fast first corner of Abbey - because yes, unlike ELMS, this race started from the GP start-finish. Despite the wobble, Tom Gamble held the advantage, but both the #009 and Alpine behind fell back, resulting in a Toyota upsurge.
The #8 found itself in second position and would follow the leading Valkyrie for much of the race - until the pits that is. Indeed, the pair were well matched on pace and pulled a gap to the chasing group made up of Cadillac and Ferrari machinery.
Down in the GT field, very little changed from the usual ELMS grid we are typically used to. Silverstone is a track in LMU that promotes front engine layouts and so the BMW-Aston Martin group remained at the front whilst the likes of Corvette, Ferrari and Porsche all fought for positions lower down in the top-10. But given we are used to GT3 racing at Silverstone, let's stick to Hypercars, shall we?
By the time the pitstops took place - the sole pitstop of this one-hour event - the #8 chasing Toyota had built a slight energy delta and so was able to make a later, but crucially shorter stop versus the Aston Martin. That coupled with faster cold tyre warm-up from the Toyota meant a switch for position, a move that would not be returned through the race.
Expect thrilling racing in WEC 2027 at Silverstone. Image: Studio 397
And so, there you have it. If Le Mans Ultimate is anything to go by, Toyota will take the win at Silverstone in 2027 with the #8 ahead of a disappointed Aston Martin #007.
WEC Silverstone Strategy Preview
Figuring out which cars were fast across a shortened, virtual recreation of a race within a game with ever-evolving Balance of Performance criteria may sound like a sure-fire way of predicting next year's winner. But it most certainly is not. What this recreation does in fact teach us though relates to strategy.
Since the WEC's last British holiday, tyre technology has changed drastically, every car class has been overhauled and replaced and even fuel is unrecognisable to what it once was, the series now running renewable fuels. As such, Le Mans Ultimate can give us great insight into how the teams and drivers will approach next April's race from a tyre and fuel point of view.
Even LMGT3 should manage hour-long stints at Silverstone. Image: Studio 397
One major determining factor to any strategic game is when cars will likely enter the pits, something typically determined by how long a tank of fuel will last. In the World Endurance Championship, most circuits hover around hour-long stints, though those with longer straights like Le Mans and Spa can make for shorter stints leading to end-of-race splashes. Silverstone does not fall into that category as all of its long, sweeping corners make for brilliant coasting opportunities. Therefore, you can easily exceed the hour mark, meaning five stops will be plenty for the leading Hypercars to complete the six-hour race.
Where Silverstone's turns will hinder strategy is tyre wear. A clockwise circuit full of high-speed corners, the GP layout shreds front left tyres in LMU. Whilst new-for-this-year Michelin rubber does appear more durable than the tyres modelled in the game, expect that front left to cause issues for teams required to double stint.
Tyre wear will be a huge factor in WEC at Silverstone. Image credit: Studio 397
To battle the high tyre wear, expect to see teams changing left side tyres only at several instances, but also you will no doubt spot different tyre compounds on either side of many cars. We would expect Michelin to bring yellow coloured Mediums and red coloured hards to 2027's Round 3, so we would expect all Hypercars to run reds on the left, mediums on the right as a balance to cope with mid-spring cool conditions.
Hypercar vs LMGT3 Traffic
Accurately recreating all the classes in the World Endurance Championship, Le Mans Ultimate also teaches us a great deal about the inter-class interactions between Hypercars and LMGT3.
Last year, we already saw how the GTs clashed with LMP2 class cars during the ELMS round. But with more power and less cornering speed, it seems as though the World Endurance Championship's Hypercars will be able to more safely navigate the lower class on the straights without needing to squeeze or lunge the GT3 category quite so much.
Certainly in Le Mans Ultimate, the only spot that caused difficulty for the faster cars to make their way past was the entry to Copse. If Hypercars are not far enough alongside the lower class machines, they tend to take too much kerb and spin out, blocking the track. That said, this is more of a Le Mans Ultimate issue than a real world class problem.
Additionally, and without blaming ELMS racers, we would hope that the top level of endurance racing features drivers with a little more patience and ability to safely decide when to make moves in traffic.
Overall then, Silverstone's return to the WEC calendar looks like it will provide a thrilling on-track product full of traffic dicing and mid-class rivalry. It is a circuit that promotes good, hard racing and with the added complexity of tyre wear thrown in for good measure, it seems April 2027 is one to keep an eye out for.
Have you tried to race Hypercars and LMGT3 around Silverstone in Le Mans Ultimate? Are you excited for WEC's British return? Let us know in the comments or join the discussion in our LMU forum!