24h Le Mans
The Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar taking the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans next weekend is revealing its potential. This machine is designed for performance, styled with character and intended for endurance. Its fiery livery turns heads even before it takes the track. Then the sound of its engine adds to the magic.
Its fiery livery turns heads even before it takes the track. Then the sound of its engine adds to the magic. The GMR-001-Hypercar is not just the first Hypercar entered by Genesis Magma Racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The culmination of painstaking design and engineering, it represents long-term vision. An attitude that merits respect, especially here in Le Mans. This car is the beginning of an adventure.
The GMR-001-Hypercar was launched just after the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans as a collaborative project involving Oreca, and the engineers of both Genesis Magma Racing and Hyundai Motorsport. Three entities with the same aim.
In a Hypercar programme, every detail is important. Every millimetre of bodywork, every technical choice, every air flow influences the result. Building a car for Le Mans can be like assembling a puzzle with pieces that change as you place them. Oreca’s contribution is the constructor’s knowledge of prototypes. Hyundai Motorsport brings racing experience to the table, while Genesis (Hyundai’s premium brand) confers the vision. The result is a machine conceived in a particularly short time, without compromising attention to detail.
Flowing, smooth, taut lines suggest contained energy. Air seems to slide over the bodywork like water on a polished pebble. Nothing is there just for show. Everything has a function. Yet the prototype has all the elegance associated with Genesis.
Aesthetically, the most impressive stylistic choice is the signature lighting. The race car sports the same two horizontal lines as Genesis road cars. A big statement. Especially for a discipline in which lighting plays a part in performance. Their effectiveness was confirmed early on, during night tests at the Algarve circuit in Portugal.
The car also wears the Genesis wing emblem on the nose like a stamp of approval.
Under the bonnet, the GMR-001-Hypercar hides a 3.2-litre twin-turbo hybrid V8 engine. The engine was started for the first time on 9 July 2025. Always a spine-tingling moment for anyone involved in the programme. Suddenly, the project has a sound.
The powertrain was developed from the V8 tried and tested in the FIA World Rally Championship. It was reworked and bench-tested to meet the demands of enduring racing.
Coupled with a Bosch hybrid system on the rear train, it embodies current Hypercar philosophy: power, efficiency and endurance.
At the start of the 2026 season, one of the engines had already covered 9,000 kilometres!
Listen to the sound of the Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar:
Before its first track session, the GMR-001 had already undergone thorought testing. Genesis Magma Racing put the highly-reputed world-class simulators by Dynisma Ltd to good use. The aim was to generate feedback on the car and its environment that was as lifelike as possible.
At Le Mans, experience cannot be bought. It has to be built: in simulations, tests, by covering ground, and by trial and error. Its short development time means the GMR-001-Hypercar has a steep learning curve.
Cyril Abiteboul sums up the situation: “We had good feedback from the start. The car has a good pedigree. It’s sound and well-balanced. There are no unwelcome surprises at the wheel, and it responds well to new settings. It’s remarkably well built. Oreca’s experience really shows. We’ve done a lot of work on the engine. It’s powerful, with plenty of torque."
Paul-Loup Chatin, driver of the #19 Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar, adds: “We’ve got a superb, precise car. It's trustworthy. It delivers the goods. Such a car helps you deploy sharp driving skills. The potential we saw in the tests was confirmed in the first two rounds. There’s still a long way to go, but the foundations are excellent.”
Genesis Magma Racing have been competing in the Hypercar for real since the beginning of this season, sampling the intensity and gruelling demands that rapidly sort the wheat from the chaff.
After the team chalked up the first points on the FIA WEC scoreboard at the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Gabriele Tarquini, Sporting director of Genesis Magma Racing, said: Step by step, we’ll climb the mountain.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans can seem like that: a long, demanding, magnificent ascension. Driver of the #19, Daniel Juncadella feels the same: "I think we make progress at each race."
Paul-Loup Chatin: "We’re trying to be mistake-free and to seize every opportunity to prove why we’re here. For example, at Imola, Mathys Jaubert fended off Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari 499P for at least 20 laps. That’s pretty satisfying in your first season."
As the 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans looms, the goal remains to see both cars cross the finish line. Early in the season, Justin Taylor stated: “Our main goal this season is to finish the races. Without a hitch. Penalty-free. Then we can begin making progress in the Hypercar class, step by step, featuring in Hyperpole, finishing in the same lap as the winner, and displaying the sort of pace that gets you in the top 5.”
Every manufacturer comes to Le Mans with ambitions. Few describe the learning process so openly. That is perhaps the essence of the Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar programme: a machine born to perform with a team clear-headed enough to realise that the 24 Hours of Le Mans requires you to listen carefully before you reply.
