Insight: The Challenges of the Rapid Genesis of WEC’s Newest Hypercar

Building a new car, developing an engine and creating a team from scratch meant a busy year for Genesis Magma Racing…

“Audacious” is one word Genesis Magma Racing team principal Cyril Abiteboul uses to describe the squad’s entry into the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class next year. And it is not hard to see why. Building a new car for a close category that features rivals with three or four years of experience already under their belts is challenging enough.

However, that challenge is multiplied by the fact Genesis is not only creating a car, but also developing an engine and constructing an all-new race team. All in just 15 months from when the program was first announced in December 2024.

That is an incredibly tight timescale and the whole team is therefore realistic about what is achievable in the rookie campaign. But there have already been some notable milestones in the GMR-001 Hypercar’s story.

At a Barcelona test last week, it approached 20,000 kilometers of on-track running – not bad considering testing only began at the start of August. The 3.2-liter V8 turbo engine, hurriedly developed from the motor used in parent brand Hyundai’s World Rally Championship machines, not only sounds good but one individual unit has now notched up 8,000km. So, the key development boxes are gradually being ticked, but that is not to say it has been a smooth gestation for Genesis.

The relatively late decision to use the WRC powerplant as a basis meant the car was being designed at the same time as the engine – and that inevitably had an impact.

“Cooling was a big challenge simply because, when you look at most programs when they were established, the engine existed physically,” explains Abiteboul. “Whilst, in our case, there was no engine when we started to design the car. So we had to design the car based only on assumption of cooling requirement, heat rejection and things like that.

“The two programs were moving in parallel: the chassis side and the powertrain side. Eventually when you put one in the other you find out if you can finish somewhere right. They were not wrong. But, between being not wrong and exactly right, there’s always a bit of a gap! That was a clear challenge.”

One of the first experiencing these challenges for themselves has been three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Andre Lotterer. He was among the initial drivers Genesis signed and has therefore conducted a significant chunk of the development work on the GMR-001. And he has been encouraged by how that initial testing has played out.

“We didn’t have major reliability issues – we had some but no fundamental catastrophic ones, so this is already a good foundation to go to all the tests,” he says, noting how the drivability of the engine has been one of the main improvements since August. “At the beginning, we had a bit of a turbo lag, which they managed to understand and to compensate.

“We have a really good chassis there and, behind the wheel, the car is fun to drive. It gives a good feedback; chassis and aero feels nice. From my previous experiences, I’m finding again a very intuitive and instinctive driving feel in the car, which I missed a bit in the last couple of years. So this is very motivating, but it’s not everything.”

When those problems, such as cooling, cropped up during testing, it has not always been a quick fix. The wholesale Formula 1 chassis and engine regulation changes for 2026 have meant that many key suppliers have been in high demand, and that has not helped Genesis when it has already been short of time.

“The growth of Formula 1 is great, but it’s massively stretching the capacity of the big motorsport suppliers,” reveals Abiteboul. “In addition to the time thing [challenge], we’re probably coming in at the worst possible moment in terms of what the supply chain can absorb. I’m not looking for an excuse, but this is typically the sort of challenge we’ve had to face. But we’ve reacted positively – ORECA [Genesis’ chassis supplier] has been superb in the way they’ve been supporting us.”

Another area where Genesis has faced compromises concerns simulation. It has ordered a state-of-the-art simulator for its factory but that is not due to be operational until the second half of next year.

“We have a smaller simulator that will be available to do work on the software side,” says Abiteboul. “We are held back by the lack of capability through our simulator. That’s why we really went big but, unfortunately, we made that decision to invest in the simulator six months ago and the simulator is a one-year lead time.”

As Abiteboul acknowledges, software is just about the only area where the regulations are open, and it has therefore been a real focus for Genesis over the past few months.

“Our concern will always be in relation to software, systems and calibration because these things take an awful lot of time,” he states. “They can only be done through successive iterations with mileage, with feedback from actual tests or races.”

Abiteboul admits the Genesis software is therefore “not at a level that I would like it to be.” He adds: “It’s probably hundredths of seconds but, over ten hours of races, it amounts to a lot. I couldn’t find any shortcuts. We found shortcuts on the engine side, we maximized the collaboration opportunity with ORECA, but couldn’t really find any shortcuts on software.”

Away from the car itself, assembling a team from scratch to run it has been another key hurdle to overcome.

“It was a short time from the moment the team has decided to go and hire all those people,” says Lotterer. “Ideally you would want to have that whole setup a year earlier because, when you join you have to put full power to catch up, but we’re doing it in parallel. We know we have a lot of work, but the ambition is there to do well.”

Abiteboul says the decision to run the GMR-001 in-house in the WEC, rather than involve an existing operation, was made early on. But he adds it was “probably one of the audacious decisions we’ve made” and that “meant recruiting people.”

To cope with the influx, HR and IT systems needed to be enhanced and Abiteboul has made regular trips to Korea to meet with Hyundai’s senior management to get everything in place.

One of the very first people Genesis recruited was motorsport legend Jacky Ickx. The six-time Le Mans winner serves as a brand ambassador and driver advisor and has been hands-on with the role, jokingly describing himself as the team’s godfather.

Even at the age of 80, he has attended the majority of Genesis’ tests to date. And, given his vast experience, he certainly knows what it takes to construct a winning team.

“The key to being successful is bringing people together,” he says. “All the people here are passionate; each person is a maestro – one of the best. You have to bring the egos down in favor of one goal. It’s about connecting people and bringing them together.”

For all the challenges in creating and developing the car, chief engineer Justin Taylor says assembling the team has actually been the most difficult element so far. Early tests featured a skeleton crew while the squad has now nearly grown to its full size, currently at 75 people.

“The cars are really complicated so you can’t have just one person working on the whole thing, you need a lot of people, and to get them all in the chair at the right time to do their job, that was a bit of a challenge,” he explains. “We’ve had some long nights just due to the workload and lack of people, but we’re past that now and we’ve got a quite big engineering group.”

Several of the engineers and mechanics recruited have come from Porsche, with the end of the German manufacturer’s WEC program presenting Genesis with an ideal opportunity.

Appointing drivers has also been another key part of that process and, while delighted with the mix of youth and experience among the lineup, there have also been challenges here. Paul-Loup Chatin remains contracted with Alpine until the end of the year so will not be able to sample the GMR-001 until a Qatar test in January.

That has created a few headaches and has also denied the team the chance to tap into the Frenchman’s useful ORECA experience yet, given the Alpine has the same chassis spine.

But, for all the challenges and the restrictive timeline, Genesis has not ignored the little details. The brand’s Korean heritage is on display with the Hangeul lettering for Magma displayed on the cars, which also incorporate the distinctive Genesis headlights.

Speaking of lights, a special colored lighting system has been developed for the pit garage’s ceiling to make the status of the cars clear to the mechanics. For example, white lights mean the car can be worked on and red means it must not be touched.

Those little details extend to the pit wall as well. “At a previous team, I sat on the pit stand for the first time in FP1 at Sebring and my computer didn’t plug in,” says Taylor. “Here my computer did plug in first go!”

That may seem trivial, but it characterizes Genesis’ approach, with the manufacturer keen to invest in all areas to ensure the team can be successful. Although such success is not expected in year one.

“First, we would like to be able to finish races,” concludes Abiteboul. “It’s starting hard with a ten-hour race. Frankly, if we can go to the end of this race, in particular, it will mean something. Then, what we would like is to be as long as possible on the lead lap – we all know the advantage of that from a strategy perspective – and then progressively make our way through the grid.”

Should those relatively modest aims be achieved, then Genesis’ audacious program will certainly be on the right initial trajectory.

Photos: Drew Gibson/Genesis Magma Racing