BMW has ruled out updating its M Hybrid V8 with any “Joker” upgrades in the foreseeable future, as the second half of its inaugural WEC Hypercar campaign beckons in Brazil.
BMW Motorsport Andreas Roos told RACER that he does not feel it is necessary yet to bring changes to the car, which has been competing in IMSA GTP with Team RLL since January 2023 and in the WEC with Team WRT since the start of the current season.
One of the interesting storylines to track over the past season has been the stance each Hypercar and GTP manufacturer is taking to car evolutions and updates. This week Ferrari became the latest manufacturer to introduce “Joker” updates to its car, with improved brake cooling ducts and new dive-planes now installed on the three 499Ps in time for this weekend’s race. This follows the substantial updates introduced for the Peugeot 9X8 earlier this year and the suite of changes Toyota developed for the GR010 HYBRID ahead of the 2023 season.
There are two clear camps. Some manufacturers are keen to push the rule-makers for permission to improve their cars while others maintain that in a Balance of Performance formula, it should not be necessary to enter an arms race unless there are fundamental reliability issues to address. And BMW, it appears, falls in the latter camp, along with Acura (HRC USA), which has previously expressed concerns over escalating costs associated with car updates.
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“To be honest (updating the car) is not on the radar,” Roos said. “We are looking at areas we can improve. I am of the opinion that we entered a BoP championship, so as long as you can adapt the cars in the BoP window to be equal in terms of lap time performance, it should be done that way. If you struggle in certain areas, that cannot be adjusted by BoP, then it’s correct to use a Joker, but we are not there yet.
“We are still understanding the car and developing it in the areas that homologation allows. When we reach a point where we realize an area we need to improve, we will investigate what we can do. You generate a list with points where you could do better. But is it valid as a Joker, yes or no? We are not there yet. Nothing is planned at the moment.
“In the first three races, we’ve had two LMDh cars win and the field is close between LMDh and LMH. It’s a quite level playing field and we have to look not only at pure lap time figures but also at how cars use tires, these are things that you need to check.
“I have to say, this year we can’t complain generally — we see good competition between the manufacturers.”
It appears that customer M Hybrid V8s are unlikely to be introduced any time soon either. BMW is exploring the potential of adding a customer program and acknowledged that there has been demand from private teams to race the M Hybrid V8 independently from the factory. But Roos and his colleagues are not yet convinced that it makes business or sporting sense.
“With new manufacturers bringing two cars (by rule) in the future it will be difficult to have grid space (in the WEC’s Hypercar class),” he said. “We have requests from potential teams and customers. But our approach is a bit like what we do on the GT3 side.
“We limit ourselves to the amount of cars we want to have because we clearly want to have quality cars. It’s not only where the cars are running, but how you support them. If you want to do it, you want to be competitive, with happy customers. This is very important. If you bring multiple cars and they are not supported and the cars are too complex, it needs a lot of effort.
“We are focused on our (factory) cars now, and to make everything in the window where we need to be. We will have internal discussions about possible customer cars next year and take a decision from there. I don’t want to say yes, or no. It’s something we will look at next year, but we want quality, not just quantity.
“And it’s clear to me on the commercial side that it (customer cars) will not help to finance the general operation. We have found a formula that works because if it didn’t you wouldn’t see nine manufacturers.
“We made the right steps in bringing the cost down, but there’s a lot of money involved and one, two or three customer cars will not help you to fund it. The costs are so high that I wouldn’t feel comfortable telling a customer that they are financing our factory cars.
“It’s not about the money — you just want a competitive car on the grid, that is the first goal. Of course, you need to talk about money, but the first goal is how you want to run the program.”
Despite BMW’s apprehension when it comes to evo Jokers and customer cars, Roos reiterated that the brand is fully committed to a multi-year program in the WEC. He was keen to emphasize the success of the ruleset and the championship’s growth.
“We are definitely satisfied,” he said. “The championship has taken a step from 2023 to 2024 with record crowds at Imola and Spa. And there were so many people going to Le Mans Test Day. Le Mans is obviously key, too, and it was a sellout with more than 300,000 tickets sold months in advance for what is one of the greatest and most important races worldwide.
“For us, this is definitely not a one-year thing. We want to do more here and it’s something we are committed to so we can showcase what we do and our technology. And this ruleset came at the right time, with cars like the BMW M5 which is a V8 hybrid, like what we run in the WEC. That road relevance is important. The GT3 car is close to the road car — you use the road car to develop the race car, but on the LMDh side we develop technology and we can showcase it. This platform gives us everything we need at the moment.”