Ferrari: First Hypercar EVO Joker Likely for 2025

Ferrari’s Global Head of Endurance Antonello Coletta has suggested that the Italian manufacturer is likely to deploy its first so-called EVO joker with its 499P LMH car for the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season.

Coletta made the remarks ahead of the opening round of the new season in Qatar, as Ferrari gets set for its second campaign with the 499P with no significant modifications made to the car that won last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

While he said that Ferrari has the option of utilizing its first joker of the five allowed over the car’s homologation period as early as later this year, 2025 is a more likely scenario.

“We have at the moment [used] zero jokers,” Coletta told reporters ahead of first practice for the Qatar 1812km. “We have chance to use one in the second half of the season or next year.

“Frankly speaking, we study what we can make in the future, but I’m not sure we will spend some jokers in the second part of the season, but it’s not impossible.

“For 2025, I can imagine we put on the table some news, because it’s normal we improve our research in terms of aerodynamics and mechanical issues.

“At the moment, we are in the phase of study, but we have not decided.”

Toyota is understood to have been the only Hypercar manufacturer to have utilized at least one joker so far, with Peugeot set to follow suit with its heavily updated 9X8 that’s set to debut from the second round of the season at Imola.

Ferrari: Fourth Car for 2025 “Complicated”

Ferrari’s presence on the WEC grid has grown to three cars for this year, owing to the addition of a so-called customer car fielded by AF Corse, the No. 83, for Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye.

Asked whether a fourth 499P for 2025 could be feasible, Coletta didn’t rule it out but suggested that maintaining its current car count is the most likely outcome.

“For the moment, it’s complicated to [add] one car more because the LMH base is more complicated than the LMDh base,” he said in reference to the fact that Porsche’s expanded five-car presence this year.

“At the moment, I think we will [stay] with three cars, but it’s not impossible to [expand] or reduce, because this is a customer program and AF Corse needs to confirm the possibility to run a third car in 2025.

“We hope that AF will confirm the third car [stays on the grid], because for us it’s an important base to get more and more data.”

Coletta added that he sees the No. 83 car as a useful vehicle to explore future possibilities with newly-contracted Ferrari driver Ye, who moves to AF Corse from Hertz Team JOTA, and WEC newcomer Shwartzman.

“This is a good opportunity for the young drivers to improve their capacity,” said Coletta.

“And in the future we can share them in the actual [factory] lineup, because they are both Ferrari drivers, and every year we have the chance to modify the lineup.”

However, Coletta downplayed the chances of Ferrari making modifications to its works roster for 2025, having opted to keep its existing six drivers in place this year.

“If the lineup will work in the same attitude of 2023, frankly speaking I think we haven’t a problem,” he said. “Our drivers last year, and during the development of the car, worked very well.”