WEC: Genesis completed the first hypercar tests

      Genesis Magma Racing, the factory team of the Korean conglomerate Hyundai, continues preparations for its debut in the World Endurance Championship and has successfully completed the first tests of its newest hypercar, the GMR-001.

      At the end of August, full-scale tests of the car equipped with a hybrid 3.2‑liter V8 engine were held over five days at the Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France. This power unit is also completely new and was developed specifically for Genesis’s WEC project.

      The car at the Le Castellet track was alternately piloted by André Lotterer and Pipo Derani, conducting comprehensive checks of the chassis and all onboard systems, with primary attention paid to the complex software controlling the power unit.

      Circuit Paul Ricard was not chosen by chance: it is located close to Genesis Magma Racing’s new base and the headquarters of Oreca, which developed the LMDh-class sports prototype chassis for the team.

      “We are already approaching the moment when we will start discussing the car’s speed capabilities,” emphasized Justin Taylor, the project’s chief engineer. “The drivers are providing us with the necessary information on the operation of all the car’s systems, and we are already thinking about how to make the GMR-001 hypercar fast.”

      The team admitted that there were technical issues, but that is what testing is for — to uncover design shortcomings and weak points of the new car. However, the nature of the faults was not too serious; they were quickly resolved, and in the next stages of the test program Genesis will focus intensively on improving the technical reliability of its hypercar.

      Two such cars are due to start the World Championship in March next year, and in 2027 Genesis Magma Racing is set to debut in the American IMSA series.