BMW M Motorsport chief Andreas Roos has indicated there will be no additional Evo joker for the M Hybrid V8 next season, while hinting at potential adjustments for the 2028 FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaigns.
The Munich-based marque has so far deployed three of its allowed five jokers through 2027, following a brake-supplier switch ahead of 2025 and a broader update this year, which encompassed an aero overhaul and changes to cooling that necessitated the use of two jokers.
That leaves BMW with two jokers to use next year, plus an extra two that were allocated to every manufacturer for use in 2028 and 2029 with the extension of the current Hypercar rules.
However, when Sportscar365 asked about its plans, Roos said there is still work to be done to unlock the full potential of this year’s upgrade.
“Not for next year,” Roos stated. “We had a fairly substantial Evo this year that proved effective, featuring a major update to aerodynamics and cooling to improve the car’s predictability and consistency, which is essential in endurance racing.
“We still believe there is potential in the car that we have not yet fully harnessed. Before we introduced the first Evo joker, I always felt there was no need to deploy one before we had extracted 100 percent, to clearly reach the maximum.
“As long as there is something more you can pull from it, in our view it doesn’t make sense to bring in an Evo.”
Nevertheless, Roos noted that work continues as BMW contemplates how to evolve its current LMDh contender over the remaining three seasons of its life span.
Suspension changes are seen as a potential development area, as the M Hybrid V8 completed five days of seven-post rig testing in September and has another ten days scheduled for this month.
“You don’t develop an Evo in two or three months,” Roos commented. “So we are already looking at what we can improve, and the areas where we can work.”
“There are some people on the team side and at BMW Motorsport in Munich who are already considering what a future Evo could look like.”
Pressed on when BMW might deploy its remaining jokers ahead of the shift to the 2030 regulations, he replied: “For sure if you don’t take your jokers by the end of 2028 [for the 2029 car], you will lose them.”
“There’s also the question of whether you would take one for 2029 when you are already developing a new car for 2030. In the end, it’s a strategic decision how you use them.”
When the 2030 rules were outlined ahead of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, IMSA President John Doonan expressed hopes the current generation of LMDh cars would not be rendered obsolete by the new regulations.
While Roos said it was “too early” to be certain whether the current M Hybrid V8 tub could be used in 2030 and beyond, given that discussions around the rules remain ongoing, he made clear his preference for any decision that would help reduce costs.
“I have always been clear that the LMDh concept works very well,” Roos emphasized. “Most manufacturers in this championship, and the new entrants, are adopting LMDh.
“For me it’s evident this ruleset works, and speaking for BMW, there is no reason to abandon this type of regulation. Now we must define the baseline for 2030, whether it’s LMDh 2.0, and what changes that would entail.”
“I can’t stress this enough: when you look outside and read the news, the automotive industry isn’t in the best shape. The more money we spend, the more difficult it becomes to sustain the level of manufacturers we have today.”
“The objective must be to keep costs under control and ensure they do not rise in 2030. They should even decrease.”
