Genesis has completed the build and engine start-up of the first GMR-001 Hypercar on the roadmap to debut in the 2026 FIA WEC season.

The next manufacturer to join the FIA World Endurance Championship and the Hypercar category successfully conducted its first build and start-up on target with their programme timeline.

They conducted the first engine start-up in February and unveiled their orange and red ‘magma’ livery adorning their two Genesis GMR-001 Hypercars next year.

“In a project like this, you have certain dates circled and this was one of them,” said team principal Cyril Abiteboul.

“The car fire-up was the GMR-001 coming to life — a huge step in the story of Genesis Magma Racing.

“To reach this point on schedule is already a huge achievement and a perfect way to start the next stage of the development process.”

Since the February start-up, the engine has undergone months of work on the dyno testing performance and efficiency.

Work began on this build immediately after the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which Genesis entered in LMP2 in their ongoing partnership with IDEC Sport.

Testing development stage next for Genesis Hypercar

It took place at Oreca’s workshop, their chassis partner, close to the location of Genesis Magma Racing’s Race Base and Circuit Paul Ricard. Oreca’s experienced technicians worked with mechanics and engineers from Genesis Magma Racing during the process.

The WRC-derived 3.2L twin-turbo V8 engine ran through a rev range in each of the seven gears during the fire-up.

Engineers also tested the car’s Bosch LMDh specification hybrid system, charging the batteries from the engine and then directing the energy to the rear driveshafts.

Genesis Magma Racing’s Technical Director, FX Demaison, said: “The car build has been about bringing everything together – all the expertise we have within Genesis Magma Racing and at Oreca.”

“It’s now when we can start physically connecting all the different strands of development work that we’ve been following for the last year with our Powertrain and Design teams.

“The successful GMR-001 fire-up is confirmation of our work so far, but also the start of the next stage of the development that comes with testing.”

The first on-track running is on schedule to take place at the end of next month, August, as Genesis refines the development before the homologation stage in anticipation of 2026.

READ MORE – Hyundai targets Genesis Hypercar effort for 2026 WEC

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Genesis Magma Racing has confirmed their start-up of their GMR-001 LMDh car’s engine, in late February, following their recent livery reveal.

Their red and orange Hypercar is powered by a 3.2L twin-turbo V8 engine with origins to the Hyundai World Rally Championship engine.

The Genesis powertrain is derived from the WRC inline four-cylinder motor – sharing up to 60% of components – to create an eight-cylinder internal combustion engine (ICE).

With the chassis developed in partnership with Oreca, the ICE will pair with the LMDh specification Bosch electric hybrid technology to finalise a hybrid petrol-electric powertrain.

“The I4 engine is a very, very sophisticated, very efficient engine,” said Hyundai Motorsport technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison.

“It’s a proper race engine, so it’s a very good base for developing an engine for WEC.

“Rallying is a sort of endurance race, so for an engine to the 24 Hours of Le Mans it’s a good place to start from.

“With the time we had available to develop the engine we immediately knew we did not have time to completely design a new engine from scratch.

“For the main part of an engine you need a long time to design, validate and of course to produce.

“Every part needs to be tested over many kilometres, and the I4 engine from our World Rally Championship car has already been well proven.

“It became the logical step to carry over as many parts as possible from the 4-cylinder engine.”

Work began on the engine’s design in June 2024 and was completed four months later with the first engine assembled in early 2025 prior to this scheduled fire-up.

The start-up signifies a key point in the timeline in preparation for their 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar class debut.

READ MORE: McLaren announce long-awaited WEC Hypercar programme

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Cyril Abiteboul described the ‘balance’ the FIA World Endurance Championship holds for its brands as head of the new Genesis Hypercar project.

The team principal of Genesis Magma Racing complimented the competitive WEC environment with his newfound role on the Hyundai-Genesis Hypercar effort.

Genesis will enter two GMR-001 LMDh cars in the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship season, utilising an Oreca-developed chassis.

The former Renault Formula 1 team principal spoke in a 20-minute interview published on the WEC YouTube channel, on the back of leading Hyundai to drivers’ championship glory in the FIA World Rally Championship.

“I think right now, the momentum that FIA WEC is enjoying is absolutely fantastic,” he said.

“It’s clearly a perfect balance of brands and cost control, of differentiation and also some form of standardisation of technology.

“What we really want to be focused on is developing the brand and developing people.

“We feel that the combination that FIA WEC has achieved in the current cycle enables us to really bring our story about aesthetic design out there.

“We’ve got the ability to do that. So that’s one thing – gaining the brand exposure that we need.

“Then, on the other side, people. For sure, technology matters in the automotive industry, but technology is enabled by people.

“That’s why one of the decisions that we’ve made is to operate the cars ourselves in FIA WEC.

“The reason we want to do that is precisely because we want to maximise the authority that we will have over the racing cars with engineers, with mechanics, with technicians.”

Utilising an LMP2 campaign and WRC experience

The WEC features a diverse selection of eight manufacturers alone in the Hypercar category.

Reigning WEC Hypercar champion Andre Lotterer joins Pipo Derani as fully confirmed drivers so far.

Although, IDEC Sport are fielding three more talents in the form of ex-F1 Williams driver Logan Sargent, Jamie Chadwick and Mathys Jaubert in the European Le Mans Series.

The team will run an Oreca 07 which has been the go-to LMP2 platform for teams globally.

Abiteboul continued: “We will have a strategic partnership over the course of 2025 with IDEC Sport, leveraging their LMP2 platform to put some of our staff and some of our potential development drivers in ELMS.

“So we will be out there somewhere.

“You will see some drivers in Genesis colours as well as some technicians, engineers and mechanics because they will be learning what endurance is about and what the challenges are in the sport, so that they can bring that expertise into our future WEC team in 2026.

“I’ve seen mechanics in F1 and I’ve seen mechanics in rallying, and what probably makes the world of rallying a bit closer to endurance is the fact that when your car is coming back to the service park in rallying, you have absolutely no idea what you’ll have to fix, injecting a bit of ‘dealing with the unknown and managing the unexpected’ – but what you do know is that you’ll have a very short period of time to fix it.

“You’re never going to think about changing a turbocharger in Formula 1, but that’s definitely the sort of thing you have to do in a very limited amount of time in a very controlled manner [in rallying and endurance racing], ensuring reliability and perfection of execution.”

READ MORE: WEC releases 2025 provisional entry list featuring newcomers

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Hyundai has confirmed Genesis Magma Racing will enter the Hypercar category in the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship season campaign.

After confirmation in September, and reports last year, Hyundai has teased first images of their twin-turbo V8 Genesis GMR-001 LMDh.

The South Korean manufacturer will partner with LMP2 racing outfit IDEC Sport for the project, and Oreca for the chassis.

Cyril Abiteboul, having led championship glory in the FIA World Rally Championship, will take up the role as team principal.

Andre Lotterer recently claimed his second FIA WEC title and joins four-time 12 Hours of Sebring winner Pipo Derani as named drivers so far.

“I’m beyond thrilled and thankful to join the Genesis brand for its entry into endurance racing,” said Lotterer.

“This opportunity is the perfect fit for me to channel my work, experience, passion and motivation into a new project with a team of highly ambitious individuals.

“I am excited to start working on this project to build a successful future from the very beginning.”

“The ambition behind Genesis’ endurance racing project and the track record of those involved was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse,” added Derani.

“As a driver, being involved in a project from the start is highly rewarding.

“I look forward to bringing my experience of developing cars and winning titles to the team.

“It will be a big challenge, but I believe all the necessary ingredients are here to make this endurance journey successful.”

Momentum set in motion for Genesis

IDEC Sport are running their 2025 European Le Mans Series project fielding an Oreca 07 LMP2.

Their drivers will be ex-Formula 1 driver Logan Sargeant, along with Jamie Chadwick and 19-year-old Mathys Jaubert.

Lotterer and Derani are talented, experienced names who have worked at the forefront of previous Hypercar projects.

Lotterer drove with Porsche Penske and their 963 LMDh whilst Pipo Derani was part of Glickenhaus’ LMH project and piloted Cadillac V-Series.R machinery for Action Express Racing, in IMSA and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

IDEC Sport’s ELMS drivers will serve as upcoming potentials for the new Genesis Hypercar programme.

In 2026, this will make Genesis the third Hypercar using a chassis developed by Oreca.

Others include Alpine with their established partnership alongside Oreca in the WEC as well Acura with their ARX-06 competing in IMSA’s GTP class.

Genesis Magma Racing are consolidating their base of operations at Circuit Paul Ricard, in the south of France.

Their intentions will tend to close proximity with Oreca and targeting an FIA WEC debut in 2026.

An interview with Abiteboul is set be published on the FIA WEC YouTube channel tomorrow (5 December).

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Hyundai Motorsport has confirmed its intention to enter endurance racing, with an announcement about the company’s forthcoming entrance to the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The announcement did not state a clear timeframe for the entry, only saying “in the near future” — but previous reports have pegged 2026 as a likely date. However, so far an entry into the IMSA Sportscar Championship has not been confirmed, although an announcement in the future is expected.

An Instagram post added: “The LMDh program will add a new pillar to Hyundai Motorsport’s portfolio.

“Since its establishment in 2012, Hyundai Motorsport has been competing WRC and TCR with Hyundai N brand.

“Genesis, the premium brand of the Hyundai Motor Group will add endurance racing to the disciplines of its motorsport activities.”

This confirms previous reporting from Motorsport Week on Hyundai’s endurance racing ambitions.

The entry is likely to be branded as ‘Genesis’, Hyundai’s luxury road going brand.

Many other details remain unconfirmed, such as the team Hyundai will partner with to run the programme. While the car will be based on the LMDh ruleset, it’s not clear which chassis it will be based on. Previous reporting found that it’s likely Hyundai will opt for a Oreca chassis, the same as the Acura ARX-06 and Alpine A424.

While a newcomer to endurance racing, Hyundai is well known in the rally and touring car arenas. It won back-to-back FIA World Rally Championships in 2019 and 2020, and has also found success in IMSA’s second tier championship, the Michelin Pilot Challenge, in the TCR class with partner Bryan Herta Motorsport.

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Rumours are developing regarding South Korean auto giant Hyundai stepping up its interest in buying a Formula 1 team.

Hyundai currently competes at the FIA World Championship level in Rallying, maintaining a presence in the World Rally Championship since debuting the i20N in 2014.

The South Korean marque, whose WRC effort is now run by ex-Renault F1 Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul has won the manufacturers’ crown in 2019 and 2020.

Now, according to F1 reporter Joe Saward, Hyundai is targeting F1 success by buying its way into the sport.

Unfortunately for Hyundai, no F1 teams are up for sale currently, at least publicly, so entering the sport in the near future could prove tricky.

However, signalling intent to join F1 by buying its way will endear Hyundai to the likes of Formula One Management (FOM), with plans from Andretti to start a team from the ground up not playing well thus far.

Another potential hurdle Hyundai is facing is the fact that a relatively immediate entry would mean inheriting a power unit from a rival manufacturer.

Still, F1 is accustomed to manufacturer allegiances, see Honda and Aston Martin, so Hyundai forming a partnership with an existing OEM isn’t out of the question.

It is clear from an FOM perspective, that automotive manufacturers expressing an interest to join F1 is preferable over the alternative, a.k.a. Andretti.

Andretti’s bid to join the F1 grid in 2026 was pushed back but the American racing outfit was encouraged to reapply once a mooted General Motors power unit was ready to go.

In addition, the 2026 engine regulations, which dive deeper into hybrid tech, were specifically designed to attract automotive manufacturers and had a hand in bringing Audi to F1 after decades of hesitation from the German marque.

The 2026 engine regs also convinced Honda to come back to F1 in full force and Ford to partner with Red Bull powertrains.

Andretti’s bid was also stifled as FOM believed that F1 would bring more value to Andretti than the other way around.

Could the same be said for Hyundai? Perhaps not.

Hyundai has grown to become the fourth-largest auto manufacturer in the world and its South Korean home positions it in a region F1 is keen to expand.

F1 successfully expanded in the U.S. without the help of an auto manufacturer but with South Korea expressing interest in hosting a Grand Prix in the city of Incheon, a Hyundai F1 bid could prove timely.

Moreover, the last time South Korea was present on the calendar, between 2010 and 2013, Hyundai did weigh up an entry until it was rocked by a bribery case.

If Incheon’s South Korea GP bid is successful, the dominoes could fall to add another automotive powerhouse to the F1 grid.

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Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville leads proceedings after Saturday’s running in Rallye Monte-Carlo amid Sebastien Ogier claiming a landmark 700th stage win in the World Rally Championship.

The rally lead swapped between Elfyn Evans, Neuville and Ogier throughout Saturday, but with issues befalling the Welshman, it was up to Neuville and Ogier to duke it out on Saturday afternoon.

After Friday’s running was complete with the conclusion of SS8, Elfyn Evans was the rally leader in his Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Yaris Rally1 by a margin of 4.5 seconds over Ogier, with Neuville 16.1 seconds back.

Neuville set out his stall on Friday morning by hitting the SS9 with superior pace in his Hyundai i20N Rally1, eclipsing Evans’ time by 9.6 seconds and Ogie by 18.8 seconds, thus changing the overall order to Evans, Neuville (+6.5s), Ogier (13.7s).

The Belgian then assumed the Rally lead in the next stage, with Evans suffering “a little issue” which was a lack of hybrid, concerning 7.4s to Neuville as a result. Still, Ogier wasn’t hanging around and sliced 2.1s out of Neuville on SS10 and just 5.1s covered the trio after the penultimate stage of the morning route.

Neuville set the pace once again heading into the afternoon break, stretching his overall lead over Evans to 5.1s, with the Toyota driver admitting that “maybe the feeling wasn’t perfect” amid a dirty tarmac surface in SS11.

At this point, Ogier trailed Neuville by 7.7s after dropping another 2.1s in SS11 and the record Monte winner admitted “It would be better if we didn’t give away so much time this morning.”

Action resumed in the afternoon with another trio of stages and Ogier claimed the first stage win to close in to just 2.2s behind Neuville as Evans slipped further back, 16.5s off of the overall lead and claiming “that’s a big surprise. “I’m surprised it’s so bad.”

“I think I’m really struggling in the low grip sections,” the Welshman added after SS13, having dropped another 7.6s on that stage to trail the rally lead by 21.9s.

SS13 belonged to Ogier, who went 3.0s faster than Neuville to take the stage win (the 700th of his career) and rally lead by less than a second.

Ogier was in the ascendancy and looking for three consecutive stage wins in the afternoon to head into Sunday in style, but Neuville responded well, going 4.1s faster than Ogier to take the rally lead by 3.3s.

“We did a good stage, it was perfection,” Neuville said. “Everything went well and I really enjoyed the car – it was incredible. It’s important to take the points tonight but we also needed to keep the car on the road. I had a good feeling so went for it and it seems like it paid off.”

After declaring his rally long fight to top the classification, Ogier said “It looks like we need to try harder tomorrow” as he looks to extend his Monte winning record.

Evans had gone from rally leader at the start of Saturday to adrift by 34.9s at the end of the day’s running and said the afternoon had “not been what we hoped for.

“The feeling is not where it was for some reason, but that’s how it is. Tomorrow with the new format is sort of like the start of a new day, so that’s what we’ll treat it like.”

The new format, assuming runners finish the Rally on Sunday, will see Neuville awarded 18 points for leading at the end of Saturday, with a 15-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 sliding points scale for the runners behind.

Sunday will see points awarded based on the day’s running only (with the Rally winner still declared via overall time through the whole event), awarded in a scale of 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 with the final Power Stage bonus points still on offer as well.

Back to the rally, Hyundai’s Ott Tänak led the order behind the top three +1:37.6s off of the rally lead, followed by M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux (+2:35.0s) and Hyundais Andreas Mikkelsen (+4:8.7s).

Elsewhere, Grégoire Munster’s day came to an early end when he beached his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 6.3km into SS12 after going off the road – hopes dashed, but luckily he and co-driver Louis Louka were unharmed.

In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin in his Citroen C3 Rally2 machine leads Pepe López in his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 by 0.2s.

Rallye Monte-Carlo concludes Sunday with a further three stages.

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Korean motor manufacturer Hyundai is preparing to launch an FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar programme, French newspaper Auto Hebdo has reported.

Hyundai Motorsport boss Cyril Abiteboul, formally team principal of Renault Formula 1 team, has approached former Williams F1 technical director François-Xavier Demaison, also known as ‘FX’ after his initials, to prepare a future Hypercar programme for the manufacturer, with aims to compete in what the newspaper has called the “medium term”.

The Korean company currently competes in the FIA World Rally Championship with its Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car. It has flirted with other motorsport programmes before, including an F1 engine programme and top class WEC efforts in Hypercar and LMP1, but these have never amounted to anything.

FX was technical director at Williams from March 2021 to December 2022, when he left the team along with team principal Jost Capito. Before this, FX was technical director at Volkswagen Motorsport, and engineered the German manufacturer to multiple WRC title wins in the 2010s.

Abiteboul, meanwhile, was appointed as team principal of Hyundai Motorsport in January 2023. It is not clear from Auto Hebdo’s report if Hyundai would remain in WRC if a WEC Hypercar programme did come to fruition. It has investigated the possibility of competing in Hypercar before, but seemed to discard the idea, instead opting to continue in WRC.

It is also not clear whether a potential Hypercar programme would align to the LMDh ruleset, joining Porsche, Cadillac, and from 2023, Lamborghini, BMW and Alpine who race or will race LMDh-rules car in the WEC, or the LMH rules, which would see it racing to the same ruleset as Ferrari, Toyota, and Peugeot.

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Three drivers will be competing in various national rallies as they prepare for the upcoming Rally Sweden in February.

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi and M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tänak have all entered national rallies in their preparations for round two of the 2023 WRC season.

Tänak will take is Puma Rally1 to Estonia on 4^th February to compete in the Otepää Rally whereas Katsuta and Lappi take their respective machines to the Kuopio Ralli in Finland on the same weekend.

Testing restrictions mean that this year teams are only allowed 21 days of testing per year – seven days per driver. Because of this, crews have decided to compete in national rounds as they are not classified as test days.

Tänak said: ‘It’s great we can take the Puma Rally1 to my home roads and I’m sure that the local rally fans are happy for this news.”

Thierry Neuville was critical of the new rules calling them “ridiculous” in the opening round at Monte-Carlo

“We need to be prepared. We have many events with bad shakedowns that are not representative of the rallies at all, and not having a test could make it somehow dangerous at some point if you don’t get the right settings from the beginning. But it is what it is.”

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Hyundai’s new motorsport team principal Cyril Abiteboul has moved to quash rumours that the company could be set for a future venture into Formula 1.

Ever since the 2026 power unit regulations were formally ratified last August, many new potential entries have been muted, with Hyundai being among those most populously linked.

The speculation surrounding any possible interest has only heightened in the last month with the arrival of Abiteboul as the South Korean car manufacturer’s motorsport chief.  

Abiteboul has a thorough association with F1, having endured stints in the capacity of team principal at both Caterham and Renault in a seven-year spell up to the end of 2020.

However, Abiteboul has since definitively confirmed that Hyundai’s sole immediate focus remains on the World Rally Championship, as the category remains the one that most aligns with its current road car sales ambitions.

“There is no particular plan [to enter F1,” Abiteboul said, as quoted by Autosport. “Clearly, Hyundai is a company that is hot for a fantastic development at a global scale, with a new product line-up, a unique range and so on and so forth. And motorsport is here to support the business.

“So, I need to understand, with the rest of the company, what the business needs, and how we can support it right now.

“Rally has been the best solution in order to support small segment cars, segment A. We need also to see how segment A is going to move, moving ahead, and make sure that rally remains relevant to that.

“That certainly is the priority right now. We are getting ready. We must win and make sure that rally keeps on serving the interests of the business.”

Nevertheless, the rumours are unlikely to subside and Abiteboul has left the door slightly open on the distinct possibility that one day Hyundai could be enticed into the pinnacle of single-seater racing, providing the opportunity is available at the right time for the business.

“I don’t want to say yes, because then you’re going to elaborate that Hyundai is going to F1,” Abiteboul added.

“I want to go back to my previous answer. We need to make sure it serves the business. Right now, rally is serving the business, and the priority is to make sure that it stays like that, working with the FIA and the promoters.

“If we need to do something else, in addition, we will see it in due course. But that’s not the priority for now. The priority is winning in rally.”

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