BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos has applauded the FIA, ACO and IMSA for selecting the same tire partner for the planned converged top-class prototype platform, stating that if the World Endurance Championship went a different way to that of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, it would be like running “two different cars.”
It was confirmed late last month that Michelin won the tender to remain the exclusive tire supplier in the WEC’s Hypercar class through at least 2032, in what came in a hotly contested bid with Goodyear that was decided nearly two months later than expected.
With IMSA having previously inked a landmark ten-year extension with Michelin as its official tire, it means the French tire giant will continue to provide the same line of Pilot Sport tires across both championships when the converged technical regulations debuts in 2030.
“For me, it’s clearly the right step,” Roos told Sportscar365. “We talk about convergence, we talk about costs savings.
“I have to say when as a manufacturer to run the same car in two different championships but with different tires, it’s basically like running two different cars.
“Every tire needs something different. You can’t take over anything what you develop on one side for the other side. You have to run different tire models at home in your simulator.
“It just doubles up the effort what you have to put in. In the end, it’s just taking resources and it costs a lot of money.
“In the time where we are now, where in the automotive industry it’s a bit more of a struggle, this is something which clearly helps to be more efficient and to reduce the amount of costs of what’s involved. It just makes sense.”
“Both championships are BoP championships.”
“For sure both championships are somehow running their own base but then you lose also a bit where you can compare cars from one championship to another.”
“Not only for you as a manufacturer but also for the sanctioning bodies.”
“For me it’s absolutely the right way when we already have the same cars running both championships that we also run it with the same tire.”
Roos indicated that progress has continued in technical working group meetings to finalize the set of converged regulations that were unveiled at Le Mans in June.
“There are meetings now going on with all of the sanctioning bodies involved,” he said. “The manufacturers are involved. It’s still a way to go but I think we will make good progress.
“In the end, everybody has the same vision that we have one common regulation for hopefully both championships, which is the right way.”
When asked when BMW would need to make a decision on whether it will commit to 2030, Roos stressed his hope that the single platform, largely based around the current LMDh regulations, will remain largely unchanged.
“This is dependent on how big the technical regulation changes are,” he said.
“I never made a secret out of it, from BMW’s side, it’s very important to keep the costs under control.
“The costs can only be under control if the changes in regulations are not having to design a complete new car from scratch.
“This is still my goal and where we from BMW are fighting for, is to basically take over as many things as we can from the current regulations on the LMDh side, what we run.
“At the end, it’s saving costs and making our endurance racing also long-term sustainable.”
