- Genesis’ LMDh race automobile at the moment solely exists as a half-scale mannequin
- To hurry up improvement, Genesis will construct a V-8 from two 4-cylinder engines from Hyundai’s World Rally Championship program
- Six-time Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx is serving as an advisor for this system
Genesis in December launched its personal motorsports division, Genesis Magma Racing (GMR), and confirmed plans to enter the premier Hypercar and GTP lessons of the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship with a newly developed LMDh race automobile, the GMR-001 Hypercar.
Genesis stated on the time that it goals to have the GMR-001 Hypercar prepared in time for the 2026 season of the World Endurance Championship, whose premier occasion is the 24 Hours of Le Mans. An entry within the SportsCar Championship is slated to observe in 2027.
Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 Hypercar scale mannequin
That is a decent schedule, because it means Genesis solely has 18 months to organize for Le Mans, which is usually run in June. Extremely, little or no improvement work has been accomplished for the mission. Highway & Monitor reported on Thursday that Genesis solely has a half-scale mannequin of the GMR-001 Hypercar, which it revealed earlier this month.
Nevertheless, as a result of LMDh guidelines requiring race automobiles to make use of chassis from sanctioned suppliers, Genesis already has a superb head begin. It has determined to make use of a chassis from Oreca, the identical chassis utilized by Acura and Alpine. Acura has already notched up some important wins with the chassis within the SportsCar Championship.
Genesis Magma Racing brand
And to speed up improvement, some compromises shall be made with the powertrain, Cyril Abiteboul, the previous Caterham and Renault Method 1 group supervisor serving as group principal for GMR, advised Highway & Monitor. As an alternative of tuning a powertrain from the Genesis portfolio, Genesis will fuse two inline-4 engines from Hyundai’s profitable World Rally Championship program to type a V-8.
Regardless of the tight deadline, Genesis will not companion with a longtime racing group for this system. Toyota is at the moment the one rival group with out a companion to have gained a race within the present period of top-level endurance racing.
Jacky Ickx
The primary confirmed drivers for Genesis’ program are Le Mans winner and present World Endurance Drivers’ Champion André Lotterer, in addition to Pipo Derani. Each drivers will help with the automobile’s improvement by means of 2025 and past, alongside Jacky Ickx, a six-time Le Mans winner who joined Genesis as a model ambassador in February. The primary observe shakedown is deliberate for mid-2025.
For added drivers, Genesis has teamed up with French racing group IDEC Sport to determine a driver improvement program. This system will start subsequent yr with an LMP2 entry within the European Le Mans Sequence. America’s Logan Sargeant, who was not too long ago dropped from the Williams F1 group, shall be one of many first drivers in this system, alongside Jamie Chadwick and Mathys Jaubert.