Genesis Doesn’t Feel “Pressured” Into Using Evo Jokers

Genesis Magma Racing chief engineer Justin Taylor says it is important the manufacturer isn’t “pressured into feeling like we need to do an Evo” just because it has multiple FIA World Endurance Championship jokers available.

Series regulations permit each Hypercar manufacturer to deploy five Evo jokers to improve specific areas of their car in an initial spell that concludes in 2027.

But, with Genesis only joining the WEC grid this year, it has a much smaller window in which to use the jokers before they expire.

However, Taylor says it’s vital that the Korean manufacturer doesn’t make wholesale tweaks to its GMR-001 just to simply avoid losing the jokers.

“At the moment we’re still evaluating the package we currently have to try to make decisions on the future, so we’re far from deciding one way or the other,” Taylor told Sportscar365 in relation to the number of jokers Genesis may use.

“‘It’s well known we have quite a few jokers we would need to use in the course of two years but, if you do that, it needs to really count.

“I don’t want to say it’s a disadvantage, but we want to make sure that we’re not pressured into feeling like we need to do an Evo just because we have them.

“We need to make sure we understand what we’ve got before we do that — and I think we’re still not there yet, we still need more racing.

“We learn some things in the races that were different than what we originally thought so that all needs to be taken into account before we play a joker or Evo.”

Taylor explained that the postponement of the Qatar season-opener amid the conflict in the Middle East, initially to later in the season before then being replaced by a Barcelona event in October, has further complicated decisions around using jokers.

“It would’ve been great to have had that sample early on in the program,” he said of the originally planned ten-hour Qatar contest in March.

As a result, Taylor reckoned it would likely be after the Lone Star Le Mans event at Circuit of The Americas in September before Genesis begins to develop a more detailed plan for the use of any jokers.

Taylor’s caution was echoed by Genesis technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison, who added: “To be able to develop the car you need to get a bit of experience and driving and learning and to know where to because otherwise we would’ve done it straight away.

“This year is really for us to learn all of the new tracks and then see what is needed and next year we have a few jokers available. But first we have to identify what we need to improve.”

Demaison also stressed there are areas of the car that can be upgraded without the need to use any jokers.

“There’s so much to be gained in power management, engine management — and this is free,” he said of potential electronic systems improvements.

Taylor admitted that how much these control systems have advanced in the short time since he worked on the Cadillac V-Series.R prior to joining Genesis has been one of the main surprises of this season so far.

“Just being away myself from the series for one year, to see how far people have come in terms of systems and what they’re doing — we have a lot of catching up to do,” he explained.

“We’re working hard to catch up and we’re not going to do that through one or two or three races but by the end of the year our goal is to be more or less on the level [of rival squads].”

Despite this, it has been a positive first WEC campaign for Genesis with the manufacturer having scored a best result so far of eighth and achieved the milestone of topping a practice session for the first time during the most recent round in Sao Paulo.