- The South Korean brand needs to develop its new Le Mans racer at “hyperspeed.”
- As with other LMDh hypercars, the GMR-001 will use a hybrid system and be capped at 671 hp.
- Genesis has decided to base the car around a spec-chassis from Oreca.
In 2026, Genesis will go endurance racing with its new GMR-001 LMDh hypercar, but the company is under pressure to meet this deadline, having yet to start building the car. At this stage, all it has is a scale model. To make it to the 2026 grid, the newly-formed Genesis Magma Racing team will draw on Hyundai’s expertise in other motorsport disciplines, including the World Rally Championship.
This will start with the engine. According to the president of Hyundai Motorsport, Cyril Abiteboul, Genesis “probably” should have used a V6 for its LMDh hypercar, but because of the time crunch to make it a reality, the brand will combine two of the four-cylinder engines that Hyundai uses in WRC to create a V8.
Read: New Genesis GMR-001 Hypercar Aims For Le Mans Glory
Specifications about this V8 are unclear, but it’ll likely be turbocharged, and as with other LMDh prototypes, it will feature hybridization. Regulations cap output to 671 hp and necessitate the use of rear-wheel drive. Not only will using Hyundai’s existing four-pots help Genesis make the grid in 2026, but these engines already offer good “weight, energy efficiency, [and] serviceability in case of anything happening during the race,” Abiteboul told Road & Track.
Underpinning the GMR-001 will be a chassis from Oreca. Acura and Alpine also use this chassis. Interestingly, Genesis will not follow the lead of most of its competitors, including Ferrari and Porsche, in partnering with a team for their factory-backed programs. Instead, it will be run exclusively by Genesis Magma Racing. This could be a challenge as all other brands that have launched LMDh prototypes from the 2023 season have done so alongside partner teams with previous endurance racing experience.
To get ready for LMDh, Genesis will enter an LMP2 car in the 2025 season alongside European Le Mans Series team IDEC Sport. This will help it to build the outfit that will race in 2026.
“We had a discussion with Cyril,” said Hyundai Motor Group chief creative officer Luc Donkerwolke. “Looking at a tight timeline, [we considered whether] racing an LMP2 next year would be a financial and human effort that would distract us from 2026.” Eventually, they decided that this was the right path.
“We are bringing talented and motivated people from all around the world to build this team, this team has to be cemented together,” Donckerwolke added. “They have to grow together. This is why we are making the effort of racing in LMP2 next year. We are stressing the team in real time, in order to bring these people to work together and be ready for 2026.”
