Insight: How Genesis is Preparing for its LMDh Debut

Sportscar365 speaks with Genesis technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison about the development of the GMR-001

It’s clear that Genesis has lofty ambitions for its foray into top-level prototype racing. With ORECA as a chassis partner, Cyril Abiteboul as team principal and Andre Lotterer and Pipo Derani as development drivers, the luxury arm of Korean automotive giant Hyundai is so far ticking all the right boxes ahead of its FIA World Endurance Championship debut in 2026.

That said, the brand is only at the very beginning of its journey and ultimately the success of the program will not be determined by the size of its signings or how glamorous its launch party was. Although it was, admittedly, quite glamorous indeed.

Instead, Genesis will be judged, just like all of the other brands in the Hypercar class, by the competitiveness of its car and the success on track. In that regard, it will have quite significant shoes to fill.

Like we saw at the launch event in Dubai, the Luc Donckerwolke-designed GMR-001 certainly looks the part and with the ORECA chassis that has already proven its worth with Acura and Alpine, the early signs are encouraging.

The responsibility for turning the GMR-001 from an attractive render into a competitive car will lie in the hands of Francois-Xavier Demaison. The Frenchman, who’ll often have his quite lengthy first name simply abbreviated to ‘FX,’ certainly comes armed with an impressive resume.

Demaison comes from a rallying background, working for Peugeot, Subaru and Citroën before a stint at Volkswagen where, as technical director, he oversaw the development of the Polo R WRC that went undefeated in the World Rally Championship for four consecutive seasons between 2013 and 2016.

Additionally, he worked on the all-electric I.D. R that set records at Pikes Peak and the Nürburgring in the hands of Romain Dumas.